Wild card Jacob Lagman and qualifier Joshua Kinaadman bested seeded foes to barge into the third round of the men’s Open singles of the Olivarez Cup Tennis Championship at Olivarez Sports Center in Sucat, Parañaque, Monday.
Lagman, one of the rising stars from Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City, posted a 6-1, 1-0 (ret.) win over No. 9 Arcie Mano in the upper bracket while Cebu find Kinaadman beat No. 11 Stefan Suarez, 6-4, 6-3, in the lower half of the draw of the premier class headed by top seed PJ Tierro and Johnny Arcilla.
The second-seeded Arcilla, who drew a first round bye, routed Betto Orendain, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to the Last 16 while Tierro was playing Joseph Arcilla at presstime, hoping for a win and a third round clash with No. 14 Deo Talatayod, who thwarted Kennex Abadia, 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, in the tournament presented by Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala.
Others who advanced were No. 8 Bryan Otico, who scored a walkover win over Leander Lazaro; No. 10 Arvin Ruel, who took a 7-5, 4-1 (ret.) win over Kyle Parpan; and Casey Alcantara, who scored a 3-1 (ret.) win over No. 13 Kim Saraza.
Meanwhile, National U-A toppled University of the Philippines-B, 3-0, while UST-B edged Ateneo-B, 2-1, and UP-B rebounded with a 2-1 win over Perpetual Help in Group A of the four-division men’s inter-college category.