Foreign aces send local bets packing

Kimmer Coppejans vs Jeson Patrombon. Photo by Marc Reyes

Fifth seed Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium had an answer for just about every shot Filipino Jeson Patrombon threw his way and scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory to reach the second round of the $75,000 ATP Challenger Philippine Open Tuesday at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The world No. 127 Coppejans, 21, imposed his experience in high level competition to outclass the 23-year-old Patrombon, ranked 1,112th, in one hour and 11 minutes.

“He’s a solid player. He showed his experience because he doesn’t give up any easy point,” said the Iligan native, who faced breakpoint at practically every serve and only saved four of them.

Coppejans was in full control of the match and, in fact, had time to assess the local bet.

“He’s having problem with his shots,” said Coppejans. “I think he’s playing too fast for his height.”

Israeli Amir Weintraub then beat Francis Casey Alcantara, 6-1, 6-3, and seventh-seed Igor Sijsling of Netherlands ended the country’s campaign in singles when he downed Davis Cup veteran Ruben Gonzales, 6-2, 6-2.

Gonzales, Alcantara and Patrombon will try to do better in the doubles event starting Wednesday.

Sixteen-year-old Alberto Lim Jr. fell on the wayside in the first round on Monday night after he succumbed to 33-year-old David Guez, the world No. 175 from France, 6-4, 6-0.

Lim, the world’s No. 12 in juniors, broke Guez in the fourth game of the first set for 2-2 but the 6-foot-2 Guez ramped up his game with superb placement shots to seal the victory.

Top seed Luca Vanni of Italy got through with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Frederico Silva of Portugal in the first round of the meet backed by Cebuana Lhuillier, PSC, Dunlop, Chris Sports and TV5.

Third seed Lukas Lacko of Slovakia also progressed after defeating Jimmy Wang of Chinese Taipei, 6-3, 6-3. Japanese Go Soeda, seeded fourth here, also marched to the next round with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 triumph over Rodolfo Marcora of Italy. Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland advanced with a 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4 win over Vijay Prashanti of India.