Monday, June 09, 2008 14-year-old Siso eyes Women’s Open
FOURTEEN-year-old Sally Mae Siso, the tennis stalwart of Cebu, proved that her skills are beyond her age and even junior tennis as she made the semifinal round of the TGI Friday’s/Itallianis Women’s Tour at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Courts—her first foray in the division.
The University of San Carlos star netter had been dominating her age group, the Girls 14-Under, and in fact went home with the title in the Dunlop Age Group Competition last Saturday at the Manila Polo Club tennis courts, upsetting Macy Gonzales, 6-3, 6-4. She has also overtaken Solon in the national ranking.
However, she has been craving for tougher competitions and apart from begging to compete in tournaments abroad, she had been asking her mother to join the Women’s Open. A 14-year-old in the Women’s Open is a rare occurrence here in the country.
Siso’s 14-year old frame competed in Women’s Tour at the Rizal Memorial tennis and she toughed it out against older players and made it to the semifinals and for the first time, earned points in the women’s open ranking.
Easy wins
She first defeated Jasmine Tan Ho, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round and later blanked Alyssa Callejo, 6-0, 6-0.
She then bashed the country’s Top 3 player, Eileen Rogan, 7-6, 7-5 to move to the semifinal round against No. 1 netter Bambi Zoleta.
First time
Zoleta arrested Siso’s scorching run and ended her first bid for a women’s open title, 6-1, 6-1, yesterday afternoon. It however, is not the end of the line for Siso as she will be seen more often in women’s open competitions.
This is the first time that Sally Mae failed to make the finals in a tournament she joined.
Last month, she also won two crowns in the 18-Under division of the Gullas Cup and Prince Age Group tournaments in Cebu aside from dominating in her own age group.
“We did not think she will reach that far because this is a Women’s Open tournament. She is just 14 and we are very proud that she reached the semifinals,” said her mother Sally.
Having found that her daughter can battle it out against these players, Sally said that she will now allow her daughter to compete in these competitions.
“I was scared for her at first because she was going up against older and stronger opponents, but it surprised me and her teammates at the Sancase training pool that she pulled through so I promised her that she can now join open competitions,” Sally said. (MCB)
