WILD CARDS Patrick John Tierro and Filipino-American Mico Santiago start their quest for main draw berths when the ATP Challenger Philippine Open qualifying round starts today at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The 30-year-old Tierro, the former Philippine No. 1 player, hopes to lean on his homecourt advantage as he wades in the 32-man qualifying draw that is mostly composed of regular ATP campaigners.
Ruben Gonzales got a major boost after he took the wild card in the main draw originally for American teen sensation Frances Taifoe. The 17-year-old progressed in the ongoing qualifying round of the Australian Open.
Joining Tierro in the qualifying for the $75,000 ATP meet organized by the Sports Events Entertainment Management Inc., is 21-year-old Santiago who is ranked 738th in the world.
Also securing places in Monday’s main draw via wild card are Francis Casey Alcantara, Alberto Lim Jr., and Jeson Patrombon, who just arrived from three-week training in Chinese Taipei and immediately started practice.
“This is a very tough tournament where even the top 200 in the world need to make qualifying but my mindset here is to win one match at a time and see how it goes,” said the 22-year-old Patrombon of Iligan City.
Matches in the tournament sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Tennis Association (Philta), Cebuana Lhuillier, Dunlop, and Chris Sports start at 11 a.m. and will be televised over TV5.
The meet marks the first time the newly roofed and re-surfaced RMTC will be used.
“This is the type of tournament that catapults players to big-time tennis, so we have reason to hope for the best,” said Philta vice president Randy Villanueva.