Sunday, May 11, 2008 Too lucky, too good By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
PATRICK John Tierro, the country’s No. 2 player, finds lady luck smiling on him everytime he is in Cebu.
“I really get lucky here,” said the 22-year-old after claiming the Cebuana Lhuillier Men’s Open Tennis Championship yesterday against No. 4 Yannick Guba, 6-4, 6-4, in a full-packed Baseline Recreation Center tennis court.
Tierro said that he feels lucky because he played here in Cebu twice and came out the champion in both occasions—the first one when he was a shy 19-year-old in Lilo-an three years ago
He also avenged his loss last week to Guba in another competition and won two titles this week and his backhand seems to be stronger here in Cebu.
“I do not know where that backhand was coming from. It even surprised me,” said Tierro, whose backhand was responsible in overhauling a 1-4 deficit in the second set.
This is a memorable match for the two as it is the first time they faced each other a Men’s Open finals.
“We have competed against each other for so many times in the juniors division but this is actually our first finals together in the open division,” said Tierro.
Stakes were high in the finals match yesterday with bets reaching to as much as P20,000 and bettors coming from as far as Bacolod City.
“We came here to support Yannick. It’s too bad he lost,” said a Bacolod visitor, who came with friends and family to watch the match.
After having been duped in the first set, Guba set out a mission to repeat his Lucena win against Tierro and came out aggressive in the second.
Tierro, however, held serve in the first game to take the lead, 1-0.
Comeback
Guba initiated a comeback in the second game as he outsmarted Tierro with soft shots for 1-1. Guba broke Tierro twice but these were hardly a walk in the park as Tierro held him off as much as he could and the five games were marked with long rallies and numerous deuces before Guba found himself leading, 4-1.
“By this time I was thinking na ibigay nalang ang set para mag deciding set na lang,” said Tierro, who was already committing several errors. “I was pushing too hard and he was very consistent.”
With this in mind Tierro started to relax, and the momentum shifted.
“Bumaliktad ang momentum. When he started to relax, his returns got better and the pressure shifted on my side. I lost my consistency,” Guba said.
Five straight sets
Little did both competitors know that Tierro had some lethal backhand hidden somewhere, to the delight of the crowd.
“Ang hahaba lahat ng shots niya at ang bibigat na,” Guba said.
Down, 1-4, Tierro swept five straight games, breaking Guba’s serve thrice courtesy of the killer backhand, and scoring a couple of aces for 5-4 before concluding his win with another break, blanking Guba in the final game.
Tierro’s assault on Guba did not end there. He repeated this in the afternoon’s doubles finals where he and partner Johnny Arcilla trounced Guba and Elbert Anasta, 6-4, 6-4.
Tierro and Arcilla would have closed out the match as early as the seventh game as they were up front 5-1.
However, a cheeky Guba held of a championship point at 30-40, with an underhand serve that surprised Arcilla and capped it with a solid serve for 5-2.
Guba and Anasta took two more games to edge closer, 4-5, but the country’s No. 1 doubles team-up decided to end the match just in exactly one hour.
The competition was the first men’s open that featured the nationally ranked players in Cebu after the Vice Governor Greg Sanchez Cup held three years ago in Lio-an.
Tournament head Jun Toledo, a former top player, who traces his early beginnings in tennis at the Baseline promises to bring two more men’s open competitions later this year in Naga and in Lapu-Lapu City. (MCB)
