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| Philippines' Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon (right) defeats Patricio Ferreira and Antonio Mendes of Timor Leste (left). Photo courtesy of Gregg Esquivel. |
MANILA--As the tennis competitions returned in action on Wednesday, the fully-rested Philippine national men's and women's tennis team clearly showed what it is capable of as they won four of their five matches at the sunny Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Malate.
Philippines' men's singles tennis bets Jeson Patrombon and AJ Lim kept their gold medal hopes alive after setting the country's victorious tone at the third day of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games tennis competitions, a day after the events was cancelled on Tuesday due to Typhoon Tisoy.
Fifth seed Patrombon asserted his mastery over Shahril Mohd Adam Das of Malaysia, 6-1, 6-1, to book a seat into the semifinals before the 20-year-old Lim followed suit into the final four as fourth seed Thai Kasidit Samrej cannot overcome his injury woes, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.
Both Patrombon and Lim will look to set up an all-Filipino finals as they both battle against Vietnam's third seed Hoang Nam Ly and top seed Daniel Nguyen, respectively.
In the women's doubles, the Arizona Wildcats’ connection of Denise Dy and Khim Iglupas translated to a majestic 7-5, 6-2 victory over Sara Nayar and Theiviya Rajoo of Malaysia but Marian Capadocia and Shaira Hope Rivera failed to carry their compatriots’ momentum as they suffered a devastating 6-2, 3-6, 8-10 defeat at the expense of Thi Thanh Binh Phan and Thuy Than Truc Tran of Vietnam.
Later in the afternoon, Patrombon teamed up with 2009 Australian Open Boys' Doubles Champion Francis Casey Alcantara to record a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Antonio Mendes and Patricio Ferreira of Timor Leste to cap off what has been an emphatic day for the Filipino netters.
Patrombon, Lim, Alcantara, Iglupas, and Dy will all play tomorrow as the prized doubles tandem of Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales also makes their debut in the men's doubles event after having a first round bye as the number one seeds.
Follow him on Twitter: @KristoffBellen.
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