PH Match Play resumes; Zaragosa battles Arevalo

CANLUBANG, Laguna—Rupert Zaragosa spent a huge part of yesterday fine-tuning his game, knowing he’s in for a tough outing against Kristopher Arevalo at the resumption today of the NGAP’s Philippine Match Play Championship.

“It’s going to be a very interesting match because Kristopher is a very good player,” Zaragosa said as he tees off today at 8:30 a.m. in the event presented by the MVP Sports Foundation at Canlubang’s South course here.

“Kristopher hits it longer than I do and he has a good all-around game,” said Zaragosa, the 2011 champion as a 13-year-old. “I will have my hands full today.”

The Andres Saldaña-JP De Claro match gets the quarterfinals going at 8 a.m., with the Gen Nagai-John Kier Abdon tussle to follow.

Gabriel Manotoc takes on Korean No. 2 seed Jun Tea-yang in the flight preceding Zaragosa-Arevalo, with Manotoc seeking another upset to gain the Final Four of the event that is part of the PLDT Amateur Tour and backed by Pancake House, Pacsport and Golf Depot.

Ladies’ action also gets going with No. 1 Daniella Uy clashing with eighth-ranked Sofia Chabon starting at 8:40 a.m.

Mikhaela Fortuna takes on Seo Yon-kwon; Bernice Ilas-Olivares locks horns with Samantha Martinez and Harmie Constantino will be pitted against Felicia Medalla in the other ladies’ matches. Musong R. Castillo