General Santos City ace Klyde Lagarde hopes to live up to the hype as he leads the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Digos leg regional age-group tennis tournament, which got under way in Davao del Sur Thursday.
But Lagarde, one of the 10 recipients of the Macs Crankit Tennis Academy scholarship in Australia, faces a formidable set of challengers in both the boys’ 16- and 18-under divisions where he is the top seed.
They include No. 2 Ramon Bentillo, Duke Silva, Jyle Cyrin Martinez and Ronnel Aboy in the 16-U side with Bruce Hurtado joining the hunt in the premier division of the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.
April Minette Bentillo, also a member of the Aussie-bound group, leads the 14-U category with Angelica Novis.