The Philippines sweep singles titles at ATF 14 & Under Series

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Joewyn Rey Pascua (left) and Alexa Joy Milliam. – Photos by Chai Chang Yu

KUCHING: Philippines players capped a good week of tennis at the 14th ATF 14 & Under Series tennis tournament when they made a clean sweep of the singles titles at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre yesterday.

Alexa Joy Milliam, who won the girls doubles crown with teammate Marielle Alexi Jarata on Friday, completed a double when she beat Tzeng Mu-Jie from Chinese Taipei in straight sets of 6-0, 6-3 in the singles final.

Chu Liya, also from Chinese Taipei, was third after receiving a walkover from China’s Ji Manyi in the third/fourth placings play-off.

In the boys doubles, the combination of Marc Andrei Jarata (Philippines) and Thoybah Rahim (Malaysia) staged an upset 5-3, 4-2 victory over the top seeded pair Exequiel Jucutan and Joewyn Rey Pascua from the Philippines in the final.

Joewyn Rey Pascua did not go home empty-handed as he clinched the boys singles title beating compatriot Exequiel in the final.

Joewyn was 3-5 down in the first set but he bounced back with a 4-0 win in the second and was tied 3-3 with Exequiel before the latter retired.

Meanwhile, tournament director Douglas Telajan said although the competition went on smoothly, the organiser SLTA was forced to shorten it due to the haze situation.

“For a normal tournament, we have our doubles finals on Saturday and the singles finals on Sunday but this year, the competition ended on Saturday.

“We had consulted the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and proposed to shorten the tournament as the weather condition was not permitting,” said Douglas who is SLTA deputy president.

He was also disappointed with the withdrawals in the competition which resulted in no qualifying matches.

SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew and Douglas gave away the prizes.

Also present were Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia secretary Rahizam Rahim, SLTA treasurer Kho Siak Koi and secretary Bernard Chin.

The boys doubles champion with Douglas and (from left) Rahizam, Kho, Chin and tournament officials.