Foreigners sweep off local tennis aces

MANILA, Philippines—Alberto Lim Jr. and Eric Olivarez Jr. failed to sustain their charge and took a pair of stinging setbacks, cutting short the Philippines’ campaign in the International Tennis Federation’s Asia 14 and Under Development Championships-Division I at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center Wednesday.

No. 11 Meng Cing Yang of Chinese Taipei wore down the eighth-seeded Lim, pulling off a big 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory in the third round.

No. 5 Jurabek Karimov of Uzbekistan shrugged off Olivarez’s challenge in the first set then went on to score a 7-6 (7), 6-1 win.

Earlier, Lim, who led the Letran Knights to a historic sweep of the 87th NCAA lawn tennis competitions early this month, overcame Hong Kong’s Anthony Jackie Tang and hacked out a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory while Olivarez, seeded 12th here, repulsed Singapore’s Devendiran Giritharan, 6-0, 7-5, in the tournament sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation and the Philippine Tennis Association.

Christian Fel Lopez and Jerome Romualdez, meanwhile, fell to No. 6 Nikshep Ballekere Ravikumar of India, 1-6, 1-6, and No. 3 Chung Yun Seong of Korea, 1-6, 0-6, respectively.

Meredith Jones, the last local entry in the women’s side after trouncing Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yue Lin, 6-1, 6-2, in Tuesday’s second round, also dropped a 6-1, 6-2 loss to No. 5 Cao Si Qi of China.

The event is backed by the Philippine Tennis Academy, Magnolia Purewater and Century Park.