Rains spare just three ITF matches

MANILA—French Third seed Elodie Rogge-Dietrich pulled off a 6-4, 7-5 triumph over No. 8 Paengthan Pliphuech of Thailand in one of only three matches concluded yesterday in the rain-drenched PLDT-Smart ITF women’s tennis circuit week 2 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Dietrich, a regular campaigner in the event, finished off the feisty Thai just in time before a heavy downpour halted play.

One of the matches postponed pitted Fil-German Katharina Lehnert against Chinese Taipei’s Yi Chen. The center court match was stopped at 3-3 in the second set with Lehnert earlier taking the first set at 7-6 (7-3).

Organizers tried to resume the match later in the afternoon but  decided to postpone it for today due to insufficient light.

The 16-year-old Lehnert, whose mother is a Filipina based in Germany, made the semifinals in week 2 of the event sponsored by the ITF grand slam development fund.