Thursday, May 08, 2008 Largo gone in 2nd road By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CEBU lost its final ray of hope in the Cebuana Lhuillier Men’s Open Tennis Championship after the only Cebuano who moved to the next round, John Francis Largo, bombed out in yesterday’s second round at the Baseline Recreation Center.
Largo, of University of the Visayas, failed to sustain the momentum he built in the opening round the other day as he lost to eighth-seed Ralph Kevin Barte, 6-2, 6-0.
On the other hand, favorites Johnny Arcilla (1), Patrick John Tierro (2), Rolando Ruel (3), Yannick Guba (4), Elbert Anasta (5), Joel Palao (6) and Barte (8) made it to the next round as expected as the lower ranks were slowly weeded out of contention.
Today could have been a battle of the seeded players but one unranked player hampered a sweep when he managed to sneak into the quarterfinals.
Rocky Paglalunan has some stretched and cramped muscles to thank for after his foe, seventh-seed Alexander Lazaro, retired in the second set of their match.
Paglalunan blanked Lazaro in the first set and was ahead, 3-0 when Lazaro bailed out, paving Paglalunan’s entry to the quarterfinals.
However, Paglalunan might not be thanking his lucky stars today as he is set to face second-seed and national team member Tierro.
Tierro advanced to the next round following a masterful, 6-1, 6-3 conquest over Korean Chung Soo-Han.
Another title
Meanwhile, Yannick Guba, who recently bagged the Anacleto C. Alcala Memorial Cup National Open championship last week, claimed the scalp of another highly-touted junior player, Pablo Olivarez II, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. The other day, Guba of Dumaguete City, booted out world No. 73 in the juniors division list, Niño Alcantara, in the first round.
Guba is slowly closing in on another title and just needs to get past Elbert Anasta in today’s quarterfinals. Anasta had to move heaven and earth before earning a seat to the quarterfinals.
Yesterday, the fifth-seed needed three sets before trouncing the event’s oldest player Jessie Lapore, 7-6, 0-6, 6-1.
Arcilla, who is seeking to bounce back from a bad finish last week in Lucena City, made easy work of Ronald Joven, 6-2, 6-2 to arrange a quarterfinal showdown with Barte.
Meanwhile, Ruel moved to the next round after his brother Arvin retired in their match, which ended in a tie break in the first set.
Today, he plays Palao, who bested Arcie Maño, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, yesterday.
