JESON Patrombon over the weekend pulled
off another big upset over world No. 30 and third seed Dominic Thiem of Austria to barge into the quarter-finals of the
Grade One International Tennis Federation juniors in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Patrombon displayed maturity with
aggressive baseline plays for a come from behind 6-4, 6-3 defeat of the clay
court specialist Thiem.
The Pinoy netter, under coach
Manny Tecson, was trailing in early goings of both sets 3-4 and 2-3 but managed
to hang on from long rallies and eventually won.
The 16-year old Patrombon faces
Australian qualifier Andrew Whittington, who was also a big 7-5, 6-0 winner
over fifth seed Ben Mclachlan of New Zealand.
In the doubles competition,
Patrombon failed to sustain his momentum when he and partner Kadchapanan bowed
to sixth-seed Mitchell Krugger and Daniel Webb of the US, 4-6, 2-6 in
the round of 16.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Francis
Casey Alcantara, likewise reached the quarterfinals, with a struggling 4-6,
6-4, 6-4 victory over Austrian qualifier James Duckworth.
The former Australian Open junior
doubles champion confronts ninth-seed Suk-Yeong Jeong, a 6-1, 6-4 victor over
Kalle Averfalk of Sweden.
In a related development, a tennis
academy of the Philippines
foundation scholar, Marinel Rudas, continues with her sterling performance,
this time in the Grade Four ITF Juniors in Brunei.
Rudas earned her first ITF points
in singles by schocking 14th seed Natnicha Ruang Sunrej of Thailand, 6-1,
6-0 to enter the round of 16.
The Pinay setter meets a gigantic
task against second seed Amreetha Muttiah of Sri Lanka for a place in the
quarterfinals.
Rudas is fresh from her first-ever
ITF doubles finals last week in Malacca,
Malaysia whre
she and partner Naito of Japan lost to their Russian rivals.