JEDDAH: Samahang Pinoy Tennis Club (SPTC) launched its latest in-house tournament dubbed as Summer Challenge 2011 last weekend, at the King Abdul Aziz University tennis courts. Team Hot Rods showed the way as it nearly blanked team Hot Balls scoring a 3-1 card to bag the match, but opening day winner team Hot Shots had to endure the mid-day heat to salvage a 4th set win to tie the match at 2-2 by points victory against team Hot Spots (28-27). Starting out strong, Hot Rods with Erwan Nurlawis/Tahir Suryadi raced to an 8-4 victory against Moi Noto/Rik Maulion to take the 1st set. The Hot Balls turned the tables on the opposition in the second set with Romy Sorra/Marlon Pagsanjan winning 8-3 against Ben Micu/Choi Argarin to tie the match at 1-1, but the Hot Rods' Ellie Baltar/Lino Bautista capitalized a mismatch in the 3rd set to win 8-4 against Darrell Eltagonde with novice partner Regie Robles, and led the match at 2-1 that set the kill. Veterans Vhoi Ortiz/Rading Bautista responded to the challenge and proved steadier against Barum Bahrom/Chet Bautista to cap the set at 8-3 and the match at 3-1 for team Hot Rods. On the other court, Hot Shots with Oca Lovitos/Mario Betorio was down 4-7, but recovered and turned the tables on Joel Chan/Nilo Borata of team Hot Spots to win via tie-break 8-7 in the 1st set. In 2nd set, Kafrawi/Gary Bautro lost the tie-break to a resurgent Vic Alvaran/Roger Gonzales at 7-8 to tie the match at 1-1, and the Hot Spots posted another win in the 3rd set as Ahmed Mustoleh/Matori Abdulshayed subdued Jun Tomas/Ronald Ricardo with an 8-5 to lead the match 2-1. With its back against the wall, Hot Shots came alive with the pair of Lama Pamulang/Julius Garcia as they won against Mahdi Mahyuddin/Hajji Pilongo via an 8-4 scoreline. With the match tied at 2-2, set scores were counted to decide the winner on points; Hot Shots was declared winner by a hairline with their 28 points garnered against the 27 of team Hot Spots. __
