Olivarez, Lim hurdle foes; Jones falls

MANILA, Philippines—Eric Olivarez Jr. and Alberto Lim Jr. fashioned out a pair of straight-set wins to stay in the hunt even as No. 11 Fil-Am Meredith Jones fell by the wayside in the ITF Asia 14 and Under Development Championships-Division I Week 2 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Olivarez, the best-placed Filipino at No. 12 in Week 1 of the event last week, turned back a stubborn Anthony Jackie Tang of Hong Kong, 6-3, 7-5, while Lim overpowered Liu Hu of China, 6-1, 6-1, in the rain-delayed opening-round matches late Monday.

Olivarez next faces No. 8 Wang Hsiang-yi of Chinese Taipei, who edged Igor Barzasekov of Turkmenistan in a marathon 7-5, 4-6, 11-9 decision, while Lim battles No. 4 Wu Tung-lin, also of Chinese Taipei, a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Hendrawan Susanto of Indonesia.

Jones, meanwhile, bowed to No. 6 Napharat Sawangkaew of Thailand, 3-6, 4-6, in the event put up by the International Tennis Federation Grand Slam Development Fund and sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association.

Sawangkaew gained the Last 8 against the winner between Pranjala Yadlapalli of India and Arrum Damarsari of Indonesia.

Yadlapalli, a semifinalist last week, came back to beat Maia Bernadette Balce, 7-6 (2), 6-4, while Damarsari stunned No. 14 Kamila Umarova of Uzbekistan, 7-6 (1), 2-6, 10-8.

Joining Samangkaew in the Last 8 is Korean Bae Do-hee, who outclassed No. 7 Gozal Ainitdinova of Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-2.

No. 14 Lim Min-soeb of South Korea also booted out Filipino Jerome Romualdez, 6-0, 6-1.