JEDDAH – Sarimanok beat Red Sea Tennis Players (RSTP) without losing a set to clinch the Middle Mixed (MMX) Category crown at the 4th Al Baik Team Tennis Challenge at Al-Bilad Hotel here recently. RSTP, meanwhile, snatched the B2 Category title when DJ Auto Parts defaulted in their fourth and deciding set to bring home the title. It was a dream match-up as Sarimanok pitted its sterling players Al-Manarandong and Alama Macapaar against the equally talented RSTP duo of Carmelo Nery and Wayne Cruz. It was a close call up to the 12th game with the score at 6-6 until Macapaar and Manarandong changed the tempo and took the two succeeding games to close out at 8-6 and win the first set. In the second set, Sarimanok's Lantong Patara and Al-Sammy Macapaar controlled the game to win 8-5 against a listless RSTP duo of Tony Mirasol and August Talavera to score their team's second point. In the crucial third set, Sarimanok's Alimbsar Umpa and Noor Hadji Halil poured everything they got as they went past a fighting pair of Ronnie Santos and Tonton Pana to win 8-5 and claim the MMX championship. The fourth set (between Nash Mangotara and Ali Abbas vs. RSTP's Housam I-Basha and Ron Valdez) was not played. Sarimanok's reserve player Faiz Amil Bilao was on court to give support to the champion team. In the B2 Category finals, RSTP contingent looked strong from the start as its first set pair of Housam I-Basha and Ron Valdez beat DJ Auto Parts' duo of Ben and Prins Narra 8-5. Then RSTP's Ronnie Santos and Wayne Cruz tried to get the second set, but were tripped by DJ Auto's Marlon Ordono and Ramil Abdua 8-7 to level the game at 1-1. An explosive third set by RSTP's Edwin Potestad with August Talavera widened the gap in scores as they won 8-4 against Romeo Espino and Nour Panizales to give RSTP a commanding 2-1 lead with a plus-six advantage. Things went from bad to worse for DJ Auto Parts as its fourth-set pair of Edwin and Ruben Alzate failed to suit up for the game and were declared no-show thereby awarding the 8-0 win to RSTP's Khalid and Vic Alvaran. That handed RSTP a 3-1 lead and together with it the B2 Category championship. The tournament was organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs, Jeddah (ASTEC) and was held in partnership with Al Baik Food Systems Co. as the major sponsor under the aegis of its PR Manager Bassam Al-Seyofi and Marketing Coordinator Mahmoud Al-Jaber. Also supporting the event were Deltaz Marketing (Racquet Shop) thru Maher Tebakhi and Amin Malik and Al-Raddadi Clinic thru Ahmad Abdulrahman, Dr. Jethro Fajardo (MD Surgeon) and Tony Bustamante.
