Cari, Loreto snare pair of Palawan titles each

LOCAL aces Gia Cari and Paolo Loreto trounced their respective rivals and scored two victories each in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age group tennis tournament at Baybay Tennis Club in Leyte yesterday.

Cari, 13, survived a couple of scary first-setters against Maasin City’s Angel Albino to cop the 14-and-under crown, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, and the 16-U diadem, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

But Cari bowed to Albino, 6-3, 6-2, in the 18-U final of the Group 3 tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association.

The third-ranked Loreto, 15, stunned top seed Venz Alforque, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 10-8, in the semifinal, then held off Joel Albino, 6-3, 6-4, to snare the boys’ 16-U title. He later stopped No. 4 Chyme Arradaza, 6-2, 6-3, to bag the 18-U title.

Franconero Nunez took the boys’ 12-U plum with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Ghylem Basalo while Alforque, of Naga City, Cebu, rallied past Joshua Torres, 4-6, 6-4, 12-10, to win the 14-U title.

Unranked Allyza Valdez, another Maasin City bet, overpowered top seed Aaliyah Bandalan, 6-2, 6-0, in the semifinals, then thwarted No. 2 Corazon Lambonao, 6-3, 6-4, to claim the girls’ 12-U championship while No. 1 Nicholas Ocat ripped Lambonao, 4-1, 4-0, to run away with the 10-unisex crown.