U-14: Olivarez scrapes past Korean foe

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Eric Olivarez survived two match-points to escape through a wringer against Korean Lim Mon-soeb, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 13-11, yesterday and progress to the semifinals of the boys singles in the ITF/ATF Asia 14-under tennis championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The incoming high school sophomore at Olivarez College overcame his jitters in the opening set and patiently worked his way back into groove to slowly dismantle the Korean’s game and force a tiebreak.

“I was not hitting well at first but I tried to get back and saw that I can beat him,” said Olivarez a nephew of Philippine Tennis Association president Rep. Edwin Olivarez.

He led the tiebreak at 7-5 but soon found himself on the edge of defeat when the Korean punched back for matchpoint, 9-8, and again at 10-9.

Olivarez, who reached the second round last week, fired forehands to storm to 11-10 only to see Lim cling on, before finally nailing the victory on the Korean’s unforced error.

He will face top seed and last week’s champion Oh Chan-yeong of Korea, who handily defeated Chinese Taipei’s Meng Cin-yang, 6-2, 6-2.

Also making the semis was Jurabek Karimov of Uzbekistan, who bested second seed and last week’s finalist Chung Yun-seong of Korea, 0-6, 7-5, 10-6.

In girls action, last week’s champion and top seed Cao Si Qi of China dumped Bae Do-hee of Korea, 6-3, 6-4 to gain a semis match against third seed Indian Pranjala Yadlapalli who ousted Thai sixth pick Napharat Sawangkaew, 6-1, 6-3.

Last week’s finalist Li Yue Nv of China also made it to the finals with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 triumph over Himani Mor of India. She will take on Malaysia’s Yus Syazlin Yusri who booted out Korean Um Seon-young, 6-1, 6-2.