The country’s best junior players, led by Khim Iglupas and Bryan Otico, go up against an international field when the Phinma-PSC International Juniors Tennis Championships are held Nov. 15 to 20 and Nov. 22 to 27 at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Iglupas, who has won Week 1 for the past two years, is entered in the main draw along with Rafaella Villanueva and Shaira Rivera.
Monica Cruz, Amanda Zoleta and Frances Santiago lead other local bets in the qualifying rounds.
A mainstay of the Philippine Tennis Academy along with Otico and Arthur Pantino, Iglupas stunned Wang XinYu of China (2-6, 6-1, 6-2) in the finals last year. She fell to Japan’s Ayumi Hirata in the quarterfinals in Week 2.
Otico and Pantino hope to win it for the local bets this time, but they’re up against promising players like Yu ChengZe of China, Seita Watanabe of Japan and Christian Chin of Malaysia.
The meet has attracted rising juniors players from the US, China, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.