By Kristoffer Ed Bellen
MANILA—The Unified Tennis Philippines, along with two of the top Philippine tennis sponsors Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala and Cebuana Lhuillier, officially announced this year’s Philippine tennis tournament calendar through a Facebook post, Thursday.
As of Jan. 3, there are 90 tennis tournaments enlisted in the 2018 UTP schedule, highlighted by the inaugural Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Regional Fr. F. Suarez Open Series 216 at the CSA tennis court in Bulacan from Jan. 13-21.
Bobby Castro’s Palawan Pawnshop also sponsors the other four Open Series tournaments this year including the Brookside Open Series 228 at Cainta, Rizal on April, Mariones Open Series 235 on May, Magayon Open Series 242 at Legazpi City on the later days of that month through the first week of June, and the San Carlos Open Series 253 in San Carlos on October.
In welcoming the Palawan Pawnshop’s 22-year celebration of holding nationwide age-group tennis tournaments for junior Filipino netters, the pawnshop company will also host three of the six Group 1 events including the Bulacan, Davao, and Bacolod legs on January, May, and October, respectively.
Meanwhile, Jean Henri Lhuillier’s Cebuana Lhuillier will sponsor the remaining Group 1 events that will take action in Cebu City, Surigao del Sur, and Makati City.
The UTP is “a non-stock, non-profit sports organization” and the accredited governing body of the Philippine Sports Commission for Philippine tennis tournaments founded by Castro and Lhuillier together with tennis colleagues with “a mission of serving, developing, and promoting tennis in the Philippines.”
Last year’s UTP events were formally closed at the year-ending Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tournament, at the Camp Aguinaldo Tennis Club, in Quezon City last Dec. 26-30 where 26 champions and finalists combined are produced over the 171 players who participated in the final Group 1 event.
The UTP also backs some of the best international tennis players of the country including Treat Huey, Francis Casey Alcantara, and Katharina Lehnert to name a few.
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