Velez, Rivera trip Palawan foes

Local bet John David Velez dominated the boys’ 12-and-under class while Shaira Hope Rivera bagged two titles in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age group tennis at GSIS-ECO 2 & 4 Tennis Club in Davao Tuesday.

The top-seeded Velez blanked Grant de Leon in the opening set en route to a 6-0, 6-4 victory while Rivera downed Patricia Velez twice to pocket the 16-U (6-1, 6-3) and 18-U (6-4, 6-0) crowns in the third leg of the 38-stage circuit presented by Technifibre.

Rivera, a native of Compostela Valley, later teamed up with Patricia Velez to defeat Jazelle Madis and Danna Abad, 8-5, and cop the 18-U doubles plum.

John Velez and Roy Ito stunned the top-seeded pair of Kurt Haro and Miguel Pila, 8-2, in the boys’ 14-U doubles finals.

In the centerpiece boys’ 18-U finals, unranked Christian Fel Lopez from Samal also capped his amazing run by repulsing top seed John Alejandre, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Cebu’s Jan Godfrey Seno also pulled off a shock win over top seed Jerome Romualdez, 6-1, 6-1, for the 16-U diadem in the event sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association headed by president and Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez.

OTHER WINNERS: Janus Ringia, boys’ 14-U; Kenny Sing, 10-unisex; Danna Abad, girls’ 14-U; Ma. Angelica Novis, girls’ 12-U; John Alejandre-Carlo Nono, boys’ 18-U doubles; Sing-Juliana Carvahal, 10-U doubles; Abad-Kiara Gandeza, 14-U doubles