Promising local bet Diego Dalisay bested his rival from Chinese Taipei yesterday to barge into the second round of the Phinma-PSC international juniors championships Week 2 at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The 17-year-old Dalisay, who hails from Madrid, Spain, scored a 6-2, 7-5 win over Tsai Chang-lin to become the first local bet to progress in the full, 32-man boys singles’ main draw.
But the recent Cambodian ITF juniors champion is up for a bigger task in the next round as he takes on Japanese Kazuki Shimizu, who outlasted Indonesian Dhaifullah Althaf, 6-1, 7-6 (1).
However, three other Filipinos bade their campaigns goodbye.
Indonesian wild card Gi Soemarno stopped Stephan Lhuillier, 6-4, 6-1; Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ying-ze ousted Jerome Romualdez, 6-1, 6-3; and Korean Keonho Shin booted out Justin Suarez, 6-4, 6-1.
Also making the second round were Japan’s Ryo Watanabe, who progressed after a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Singapore’s Justin Oeni; and sixth seed Malaysian Christian Didier Chin. who survived Japan’s Fumiya Yoshino, 7-6 (4, 7-6 (0), 6-1.
No. 7 pick Kai Kawano of Japan drubbed Hong Kong’s Alester Magalit, 6-2, 6-3, to also move on.
Two other Filipino bets, including Philippine Tennis Association stalwart and top seed Bryan Otico, are set to debut in Week 2 of boys’ singles scheduled later in the day.