By Cesar Q. Quilenderino
JEDDAH — Team Black survived from dropping deeper into a sinkhole by coming out fighting to the last point of every set in the six (6) doubles match-ups making it to 1st phase of the 3rd round of the “Beat the Heat” Tennis Tournament at King Abdulaziz University sports complex, organized and managed by the Samahang Pinoy Tennis Club, here.
Fred Masangkay and Boy Isuga again lived up to their roles as “the frontier double” by dominating Team White’s top-ranked duo Norwin Catipay and Celso Abella 8-4 in their 3rd and final match-up that chalked up a 3-0 sweep in Category B2+. The Team Black duo briefly trailed 1-2 after each lost service game in the 1st and 3rd games, with one break-serve in-between against Team White Celso Abella. Then, the Black’s tandem of Fred Masangkay/Boy Isuga operated a well-oiled scoring machine from 2-3 deficit onward with a combination of serve-and-volley attacking games by the leftie Masangkay and consistent baseline shots from Isuga.
Roy Timtiman and Julius Garcia sustained Team Black’s drive to close in on Team White by whipping up another victory in the 2nd set, surging ahead of White’s Leo Maranion and Mark Anthony Banaag at 3-1 and 6-3 before finally settling for 8-4 result.
Team Black’s Category B2 doubles bested its opponent in 2 of the 3 matches with 8-4, 6-8, 8-4 overall games. Team Black continued its momentum in the 3rd match of the day with another pair of their Category B2 doubles, Pol Fernandez and Bernie Soguilon, came out of the blue through a sluggish 0-2 start during a re-scheduled match from Round 1, then bombarded their opponents Cesar Quilenderino and Gary Bautro, with low passing shots skimming just above the net that kept the attacking Team White’s pair stranded most of the time in front of the net or at the middle of their court.
Pol Fernandez and Bernie Soguilon led 4-2 and 7-3 before closing out the match at 8-4. The win cut Team Black’s overall deficit before the start of the 3rd round from the overall total points of 87-103 to 111-115 – from 16 to 12 point difference.
In the 4th set, Team Black’s Ali Callanta and Arnold Tambalo bumped off Team White’s Nasser “the Chef” Cayquep and Zaldy Gabriel for the 2nd time in their 3 outings with 8-5 victory to further cut White’s overall advantage to only one point, 119-120. But JM Bravo and Hajji Pilongo came to the rescue of the embattled Team White in the 5th set, cranking up leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 against Team Black’s Nilo Gamba and Yusuff Adriatico, and finished them off at 8-3 that bolstered back the Team White to the overall lead with precarious 6 points, 128-122.
The day’s 6th and last doubles was a closely battled match in Category C that saw Team White’s Fernan Fermin/Clark Maldo engaging Team Black’s Ariel Domingo/Pierre Abou Toumo in an exciting exchange of baseline shots and rallies that took them each with hold-serves to the score of 2-all. Then, both teams engaged in a battle of wits and nerves resulting in 4 more ties in the scoreboard till the 7-all tiebreak game.
Team White outlasted Team Black in the tiebreaker with 7-5 finish, and stalled the score in favor of Team White, 136-129, pending completion of the Phase 2 of Round 3, which is scheduled for Friday. This match was a rescheduled game out of Round 2 of the “Beat the Heat” Tennis Tournament, which is organized by the club officers of SPTC led by Ariel Domingo as chairman. Team White is managed by Marlon Pagsanjan, while Team Black is captained by Waymor Carmelotes.
