gear, Category C teams notched their games one-level up as the the 3rd Al-Baik Team Tennis Tournament moved to the round of 16 knockout matches at the Al-Bilad Hotel tennis courts. Leading the pack of early qualifiers were Friday Bulls who drubbed JRTC-1 and JRTC-2 which disposed of JBTP-1 on a close 2-2 decision via the points (25-20) system. Coming up as underdog Thunderstorm surprised top finisher NCB on a 2-2 decision on points (24-20) for an upset win. Friday Bulls took charge early in the game as team captain Ed Belen combined with Ramil Ramos to score an 8-3 set over Hamidi/Amin Dipatuan of team JRTC-1. Sustaining the onslaught, the pair of Ruel Manara/Andy Rentoy survived a tie-breaker against Alex/Mohaimen for a commanding 2-0 lead for Friday Bulls. A sorry loss for Lito Castor/Tony Alojado failed to cap the match as they succumbed in another tie-break against Anuar/Norodin. With Edgar Magbanua/Cliff Castaneda at the anchor, Friday Bulls secured victory by pummeling Rashid/Michael at 8-5. On another court in the cross-over match against Group 1 second-placer JBTP, JRTC-2 survived a cold start as Mike/Kaharuden lost to Joel Chan/Kemp Libunao at 3-8 in the first set, Ben Micu/Fritz Perico took the second set with an identical 8-3 score win over Jonathan/Dante De Claro to make it 1-1. In the crucial third set JRTC suffered another setback with Rolly/Podin stumbling against Karim Angio/Darrell Eltagonde at 6-8 to give a 2-1 lead to JBTP-1. Against all odds, JRTC's pair of Frox/Cizzner Carrascal proved a hard-nut-to-crack pair by orchestrating an 8-1 beating of Benzyl/Boy Dela Cruz that secured the set and the match at 2-2, winning by points at 25-20. Still in Category C round of 16 matches, a surprise victory by team Thunderstorm against Group 3 leader NCB catapulted it to the quarterfinals with a spectacular-come-from behind win. With Ruben/Adan Republica controlling the first set blanking Teddy/Faiz Al-Malki at 8-0, and Manny Dela Cruz/Marlon Regala dishing out an 8-6 win over Jacob/Abdul Rahman, NCB posted a commanding 2-0. But Thunderstorm bounced back in the third set, as Al-Mir/Badr Mahrazi pulled out an 8-4 win over Jess/Obet to keep their hopes alive,. Luck smiled on Thunderstorm as NCB's fourth set pair was declared no-show, handing a default set win to Ahmed/Mathew Ibrahim that tied the match at 2-2, and make it triumphant via a the points system 24-20. The other quarterfinalist were RSTP-1, by defeating JBTP-Tigers 3-0; HTTP-APO by winning over Hidada-HITEC 2-2 (28-26); Shelter by running over Saudi Diyar 3-0; Toyota-ALJACS by defeating Zuhair Fayez 3-1 and SETE by 3-0 win over SPTC-Oca. Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs, Jeddah (ASTEC), this tournament is in partnership with Al-Baik Broast Chicken as the major sponsors. Supporting the event is Deltaz Marketing/Prince.
