By Cesar Q. Quilenderino
JEDDAH — Team SL grabbed the daylight out of Team LB in their exciting battle for the crown in the recently-concluded Samahang Pinoy Tennis Club Shampionship at the King Abdulaziz Sports Complex here. Already in the brink at 1-2 sets behind, Team SL banked on the heroics of its 2 separate doubles in the last 2 sets to debunk the huge advantage of favorite Team LB to wrest the lead and finish the title match 3-2, crowning Team SL the champion.
Team SL’s front doubles pair of Ali Callanta/Ruben Alzate, under category Legend, started on fire as usual, with AliC blasting their opponents with 40-15 winning points on his serves in the 1st game and Ruben dumping winners in the 3rd frame out of his high-looping passing shots against Team LB. The early breakthrough came after sandwiched broken-serves in the 2nd and against Team LB’s Bernie Soguilon, who was paired with Yusuf Adriatico. There was no way of stopping the SL pair’s advance after that, as they cruised to 7-1 lead after Team LB’s YusufA won his serves in the 4th game, and helped his partner break AliC’s serves at 40-love in the penultimate 9th game. But Team SL’s AliC and RubenC maintained their momentum in the ensuing 10th game and, in return, broke serves of BernieS at 0-40 to finish the first set 8-2, and stay undefeated in the tournament. Ali Callanta and Ruben Alzate came out winners for the “Best Doubles” award in the tournament.
Team SL’s comfort over their 1st set victory was short-lived as the tandem of 2 Team LB’s doubles, Nilo Borata/Norwin Catipay and Leo Milarion-Sherwin Narvaiz, took their turns in demolishing the attacking games of SL’s Moi Noto/Memed Darkum and Mario Betrorio/Robert Rayos. Nilo Borata/Norwin Catipay maintained mastery over the vaunted power plays of SL’s Moi Noto/Memed Darkum, with NiloB lurking in front of the net blocking their opponents’ net-skimming passing shots and came through with defensive volleys that brought them to a commanding 4-1 lead. With NorwinC delivering counter offensive shots from the baseline against MemedD’s vaunted forehand drives, the LB’s doubles maintained their lead 6-2, 7-5 before closing out the 2nd set at 8-5.
In the 3rd doubles, Team LB’s Leo Milarion/Sherwin Narvaiz took similar path as in the 2nd set in scotching the challenge of SL’s Mario Betrorio/Robert Rayos, with SherwinN’s frequent foray into the net while LeoM pummeling winners from baseline topspin drives. They jumped to a 2-0 games lead, maintained their advantage at 4-2, 6-3, 7-5 and then nailed down an 8-5 finish to overturn the set scores (2-1) in favor of Team SL.
A pair of unlikely heroes came to the rescue of Team SL in the 4th set and restored hope for their fledgling team from 1-2 sets behind to wrest the initiative to 2-set all. Survivor from their preliminary-round encounter, the SL’s Hajji Pilongo/Rolly Saldana exacted sweet revenge and turned tables on Julius Garcia/Ali Dipatuan of Team LB with a 2-0 jumpstart, that went up to a devastating 5-1, 6-2 leads, ending the match at 8-4, that brought the Team SL in even keel with Team LB. LB’s JuliusG/AliD narrowed the gaps at to 3-6 and 4-7 behind, but that is all that they could muster against the surging Team SL doubles.
Another pair of previous-round loser told it all about the 5th set and final epic of this SPTC Team Tennis Tournament. Team SL’s JM Bravo and Ben Salabin stepped into the game fighting it out right at the start against the same foe that downed them in the previous round. Each precariously started, winning their service games to gain the upper-hand 2-1 after breaking serves against Team LB’s Clark Maldo in the 2nd game, then attempted to break the game wide open from 3-1 lead. But the LB’s pair found their range and fought their way out of the trouble with net-charging games of Mashur Jamiri resulting in lost-serves for BenS in the 5th and another lost-serves for JMB in the 7th game to turn the game around for Team LB’s 4-3 lead. BenS and JMB refused to wilt under pressure, thwarted their opponents from attacking the net and forced into downturn and overtook the lead at 6-4 after breaking the serves each of Clark and Masher with hold-serves of their own by BenS. There was no stopping the Team SL’s march after that, as BenS and JMB held onto their lead at 7-5, then served out the 5th and deciding set at 8-5.
JM Bravo and Allan Mabini were declared the Most Improved Players of the Tournament.
