JEDDAH — Friday Bulls scored their first victory at the expense of Sarimanok, scoring a 3-1 win in Category MMX, while Toyota Express, buried neck-deep in the third set, got a stroke of luck and went on to defeat NCB by one point, 24-23, in Category B2 of the 4th Al Baik Team Tennis Challenge at the Al-Bilad Hotel tennis court here. In the HMX Category, RSTP blanked Shuman-JIS, 4-0, to top the category with four wins and no defeat. With some categories moving on to the next round of hostilities, games have become more intense. Venturing into a higher category, Friday Bulls finally posted their first win in their fourth try, making Sarimanok their unlucky victim. Although starting out shaky as team captain Ed Belen and Alex Pena lost out 1-8 to Alama and Al Manarandong in the first set, the FB team never lost hope. Edward Tugade and Nilo Salvedia scored an 8-4 win against Sammy and Nash Mangotara in the second set to level the score at 1-1. A lucky break came to Friday Bulls as Sarimanok defaulted in its third set, giving an 8-0 win for Noel De Guzman and Danny Canoy which handed Bulls a 2-1 lead. Sensing victory, Bogzkie and Sev Sumaya controlled the fourth set to win over Faiz Amil and Lantong Patara at 8-2 to close the match with a 3-1 victory for Friday Bulls. Toyota Express needed a miracle after the third set being down at 1-2 and trailing on points with a minus seven deficit. It was an almost victory for NCB in their B2 category tiff. The first set was won by NCB with Sohail Hafez and Mohamed Hamawy scoring an 8-4 win against Rafik Shaikh and Michael Landrito. But the Express countered in the 2nd set as Jowel and Raffy survived the tie-break to score 8-7 against Joey Ibay and Manny Dela Cruz. It was another loss for the Express as Marwan and Leo managed only 4-8 against Joe Marie and Lito Mosqueda in the third set. Everything was gloomy at this point until NCB defaulted its fourth set pair of Judex Batoy and Adan Republica, giving an 8-0 win to Litto De Mesa and Armand Bucad to tie the score at 2-2 and lead by a point 24-23, enough to win the contest. In the HMX Category, RSTP led everyone after it defeated Shuman-JIS, 4-0. Vooch Maniri and Fred Masangkay won the first set over Noel Panti and Arnold Bernardino at 8-2. In the second set singles, Abdelmeten Khoja beat Michael Marquez by the same score. The third set was won by Jun Ouano and the fancied Carmelo Nery who controlled the shots of MJ Melendrez and Teody Bea to give victory to RSTP. In the fourth set, Randy Martin and Francis Idjao completed the 4-0 sweep as they handed an 8-4 beating to Sonny Valencia and Cesar Panti. With this win, RSTP jumped to the top of the rankings in HMX Category and will be paired against JCC who placed fourth over-all. The other pair of semifinalists will pit second-ranked Fuchs against the third-ranked NCB. Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs, Jeddah (ASTEC), this tournament is in partnership with Al Baik Food Systems Co. as the major sponsors under the aegis of its PR Manager Bassam Al-Seyofi with Marketing Coordinator Mahmoud Al-Jaber. Other supporters of the event are Deltaz Marketing (Racquet Shop) through Maher Tebakhi and Amin Malik and Al-Raddadi Clinic through Ahmad Abdulrahman, Dr. Jethro Fajardo and Tony Bustamante.
