Cesar Q. Quilenderino and Ben Micu JEDDAH — Team Orange took down Team Blue from the top of team standings with a 4-0 score line, almost a clean sweep in their 5-set match-up during last Friday's games in the “The HeatWave Challenge” Tennis Tournament at King Abdulaziz University Sports Complex here. Bernie Soguilon and Choy Argarin got the best out of the long rallies against Team Blue's Mike and Rolly Saldana. They outlasted their opponents following scores of 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 till 7-7 lead to a tiebreak game. Team Blue's Mike and Rolly Saldana had the upper-hand at 4-3 until 7-6, but the Orange caught up with them thanks to Soguilon, who led the pair to a 7-3 win and the 1st set victory. Team Orange's Nasser Cayquep came out victorious in the singles match in the 2nd set, as he overcame the low-skimming passing shots of Team Blue's Gary Bautro, who methodically chopped his lead of 3-2 down to the stretch that almost pushed the Orange's player to the brink at 3-5 and 4-5 with Gary serving for the match in both instances. But Nasser Cayquep found a way out with pinpoint baseline shots, making it 5-all after breaking the serves of Gary Bautro in the 9th game of the regular period and then sailing on to win 7-2 in the deciding tiebreaker. Team Orange took on Fred Masangkay and CQ Quilenderino of Team Blue in style. Team Blue's Fred and CQ overcame game deficits from 1-3 and 3-5, Team Orange's Bhoy Isuga and Oca Lovitos did the same by holding serve twice and clawing back into contention and taking the lead at 6-6, then catching up from 6-7 to level at 7-all. Drenched in sweat due to the sweltering morning heat, Team Blue's Fred and CQ succumbed to a 3-7 defeat in the tiebreaker. Lito Bentulan/Roman Alcantara of Team Orange breezed through to an 8-2 finish in the 4th set versus Team Blue's Rik Maulion/Zaldy Gabriel. Both pairs leveled at 2-2 after the 4th game, but Roman held serve in the 5th game to push his doubles for 3-2 lead, which they did not relinquish till the end after a tiring Rik Maulion lost his service games twice in the following 5 games, and sustained it up to the end score of 8-2 with consistent baseline game. This tennis tournament is organized and managed by SPTC, with Ben Micu as Tournament Director the other officers of the club, being led in acting capacity, Roy Timtiman (Club vice chairman for Internal Affairs) and Lito Bentulan (Club Vice chairman for external Affairs). The Technical Committee is composed of Jun Tomas, Oca Lovitos, and Vic Rebong. This in-house tournament is financed by the club, with Bernie Soguilon providing tennis balls and others providing funds for the snacks.
