Patrombon, 4 others in main draw

WORLD-RANKED Jeson Patrombon made it straight to the main draw while four other Filipinos snagged wild card slots in the PSC-Philta International Men’s Futures Open which gets underway on Oct. 5 to 11 at Valle Verde Country Club.

Busy the past months campaigning in the pro circuit, the 22-year-old Patrombon automatically landed a slot in the main draw by virtue of his 1204 world ranking.

But he won’t be alone in the campaign. National teammates Francis Casey Alcantara, Patrick John Tierro and Johnny Arcilla, and teenage rising star Alberto Lim Jr. were given WC spots in the $15,000 meet.

Qualifying round will begin today in the meet organized by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Tennis Association, Pioneer Insurance, Babolat, Asian Tennis Federation and Philta president Mayor Edwin Olivarez.

Philta vice president Randy Villanueva said he they are upbeat with the chances of the national players who will seek world ranking points as well as much-needed exposure to high-level competitions.

The Filipino wildcards are coming from recent victories with Alcantara winning the Olivarez Open, Arcilla the Gen. Santos City Tuna Festival, and Lim crowning himself the youngest  PCA (Philippine Columbian Association) Open champion.

Alcantara and Lim, and Arcilla and Tierro were also given doubles wildcard slots.

Among those listed to join are Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain (ranked 354), Harry Bourchier of Australia (509), Kento Takeuchi (513) and Arata Onozawa (591) of Japan, and Vinayak Kaza of India (655).

Patrombon reached his highest ranking at 869th in 2012 and is again on the upswing with impressive stints in the Southeast Asian Games and ITF Futures in Sri Lanka and India.