PHILIPPINE TENNIS STARS PUT ON AWESOME PERFORMANCE IN LAOS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 17 Dec 2009
The Philippines put on an awesome performance in the individual competition in tennis at the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos with Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey guaranteeing a gold by arranging an all-Filipino finals in men’s singles and a doubles showdown with the famed Ratiwatana twins of Thailand .
Charming Denise Dy kept the ladies in the thick of the quest for gold by partnering Riza Zalameda in the quest for gold in the doubles finals.
An ecstatic PHILTA official Randy Villanueva stayed in touch with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports all throughout, to relay the news of the sterling performances of Huey, the Philippines No.2 and veteran No.1 Mamiit who continued to sparkle following their epic win over highly favored Thailand in the tennis team event.
Villanueva said Dy unfortunately suffered an ankle injury in the women's semi finals and lost 7-5/7-6. Villanueva said he was confident that if not for the injury which made it difficult for Denise to cover the court she would have won and also gone on to win the gold. However, he said she had recovered and would be ready for the doubles events on Thursday.
Huey who teamed up with Mamiit to shock top-seeds Thailand and win the gold medal in the men’s team competition, clinching a 2-1 tie in a gripping deciding set tie-breaker in the doubles, played superb tennis to score a stunning straight sets victory over Thailand’s No.1 seed and world rated hope Danai Udomchoke 7-6/7-6 on Wednesday afternoon at the National Stadium in Vientiane, Laos.
Mamiit played excellent tennis to whip French-Cambodian Tan Nysan in the second semi finals 6-1/6-2 to ensure an All-Filipino final and boost the last-ditch drive of the Philippines to move up from sixth place in the overall medal tally..
Tan had earlier defeated Thai No.2 Kittipong Wachiramanowong in back-to-back tie-breakers 7-6/7-6 to set up the clash with Mamiit while Huey who is seeded No. 4 in the men’s singles smashed Malaysia’s Ariez Heshaam in straight sets 6-0/6-3 in the quarter finals to arrange a battle with Udomchoke who had beaten Mamiit in their singles match in team competition.
Udomchoke appeared to struggle against unseeded Cambodian Ben Kenny in the quarter finals and said later that his performance was below par as he was saving his energy for the next round and his showdown with Huey. He also claimed he had a slight shoulder injury. But nothing helped the fancied Thai as Huey whose excellent physical condition has been a feature of his game proved too good for Udomchoke who in 2005 lost to Mamiit in the gold medal clash in Manila.
The Bangkok Post reported that another Thai player, Suchanan Viratprasert was not good enough to win a medal in the women's singles event when she lost 7-5, 2-6 and 7-6 (5) to the Philippines' promising Denise Dy.
The Thai girl lost the opening set 7-5 before taking the second set 6-2. But Dy who plays in the US NCAA collegiate circuit pulled through to win the deciding set 7-5. She later partnered Riza Zalameda to beat the Thai tandem of Suchanan Viratpraesert and Nudnida Luangnam to book a place in the finals.
The Filipinas dropped the first 3-6 but clawed back to take the second set 7-6 and push the match to a deciding third set in which they blasted the Thais in the tie-break 10-0.
Dy and Zalameda will face their women’s team conquerors, Thai number one Tamarine Tanasugarn and Varatchaya Wongteanchai in the finals .
In the men's doubles finals Mamiit and Huey will once again take on the deadly Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana who easily defeated the Indonesian duo Ketut-Nesa Arta and Christopher Rungkat 6-2 and 6-4.
Huey and Mamiit had beaten the twins in the Men’s team competition in a gripping third set tiebreak and look to score twin victories over the top-seeded brothers. In the men’s doubles semi finals Mamiit and Huey overcame Danai and Kittipong 7-5/ 7-6 (2) to set-up the rematch with the Rattiwatana twins.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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