JEDDAH — Team Dark Horse narrowly escaped defeat as it posted a hairline win via points against a fighting team ABTC-Binladen, while RSTP made it to the winning column after finally finding the right combination in its third try to score a 3-1 win against SCTC in the B1 category. Madina Printing on the other hand passed its initial assignment when it blanked JRTC-4 in another category C clash as the 25th ASTEC Team Tennis Challenge reaches midway in the eliminations at the tennis courts of Hotel Al-Bilad and Sheraton Hotel in Jeddah Corniche. Lagging 0-2 midway through the match as Edward Forrosuelo/Richard Camat lost the first set 2-8 to Erick/Rey and Bobring Yparraguire/Kelly Cortes losing 5-8 to ABTC-Binladen's Joel/Podin Dianalan, team Dark Horse did not lose hope. Herbert Amores took control of the third set singles play cruising to an 8-2 win against Reygell to start the courageous rally to put the match at 1-2 score. Then Armand Mahusay/Mansour Khalid made it against Ogie/Ronald to level the scores at 2-2 and win the match via points 23-22. Red Sea Tennis Players (RSTP) category B1 team after losing successive matches first against team DP World 2(26) - 2(28) and then team JRTC 1-3 posted its first win when it defeated team SCTC-Pepsi of Saudia City Tennis Club registering a 3-1 match record. Starting like wildfire in the first set with Tonton Pana/Ramon Monterde winning 8-1 over Ricky/Haroun Ratag, RSTP was stopped on their heels in the second set as Al-Manarandong/Alama Macapaar lost 7-8 thru tie-break to SCTC-Pepsi's Hassan/Abdo Poole to even the count at 1-1. In the third set singles play, RSTP's Ayman cruised to an 8-1 win against Joreed to put RSTP ahead at 2-1 with an unreachable point margin of 13-point lead. A close fourth set was won by Domelo Gesto/Benny Lazarte with an 8-6 score against Nilo/Sandy Dalit to chalk out a 3-1 win for RSTP. In another category C encounter, Madina Printing scored heavily against team JRTC-4 as it rode to victory without dropping a set. Starting with an 8-0 win by Roy Panes/Edgar Nique against Hisan/Arman in the first set followed by an 8-1 score by Gollie Aranza/Obet Arpon over Taps/Camad in the second set put Madina Printing up 2-0. Third set singles play pitted Ruben Dunque against a no-show Willy giving the former an 8-0 score, ensuring the team's victory at 3-0. Then Rannell Acasio/Pete Arrozal combined to close out the set at 8-3 against Habib/Jimmy to complete the 4-0 sweep. Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs (ASTEC) Jeddah, this team tennis tournament is being played at the Al-Bilad Hotel tennis courts and is supported by Deltaz Marketing (Racquet Shop) through Tony Kassis, Maher Tebakhi and Amin Malik.
