Filipino wild card netters get going Monday
THE COUNTRY’S top tennis players test their mettle against a world-class field when the ATP Challenger Philippine Open opening round kicks off today at the newly refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Main draw wild cards Jeson Patrombon, Francis Casey Alcantara, Ruben Gonzales and 16-year-old Alberto Lim Jr. will try to keep the Philippine campaign going in the $75,000-tournament, the biggest to be held in the country so far.
“I will play my usual game, and look at it as a preparation for other tournaments like the Australian Open [juniors] next week,” said Lim, the country’s most promising netter who is currently No. 12 in the world in juniors. He competed last week in an ITF Futures in Long Beach, California.
“You can’t tell, the ball is round. But definitely I won’t put pressure on myself,” added the Tarlac-born Lim, who will face world No. 175 David Guez of France in the first round. Guez, 33, reached his highest rating of 116th in the world six years ago.
“I’m very excited and ready for the challenge. I have nothing to lose,” said Alcantara, the 23-year-old former Australian Open juniors doubles champion who will face 29-year-old Amir Weintraub of Israel, the world No. 207.
Sharing the same sentiment was 22-year-old Patrombon, formerly world No. 9 in juniors who had reached the top 800 but is currently 1,112th in the world.
“My mindset is to try and win every point, every set and every match then if I win, I move on to the next match,” said the Iligan-native Patrombon, who will face fifth-seed and world No. 127th Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium.
The 21-year-old Coppejans, who reached 97th in the world last year, used to play in the country during his junior years. He once played Patrombon in doubles.
Gonzales, 30, and a veteran Davis Cup player and member of the national team, will face seventh-seeded Igor Sijsling of Netherlands, who just won a Challenger meet in Brescia, Italy.
Meanwhile, Filipino-Spaniard Diego Garcia Dalisay put up a gallant stand before losing to World No. 347 Nikola Mektic of Croatia, 6-2, 6-2, yesterday in the qualifying of the tournament sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Tennis Association and Cebuana Lhuillier.
The 16-year-old Dalisay was broken twice on each set by the 27-year-old Mektic, who needs to win one more to make the main draw in the meet supported by Dunlop as the official ball, Chris Sports the official stringer and official broadcaster TV5.
