JEDDAH — Tropapips beat a depleted Toyota Express on points 28-22 following a 2-2 scorecard to advance to Category C quarterfinals in the 4th Al Baik Team Tennis Challenge at Al-Bilad Hotel tennis courts here recently. Sarimanok, on the other hand, downed the unbeaten DJ Auto Parts with a 2-2 scorecard again on points 29-26 to top Group 2 in the MMX Category. RSTP and Fuchs, meanwhile, set up their final in the HMX Category following their semifinal wins. On a night when everything seemed to be going against Tropapips, they had to work extra hard for every point against Toyota Express. Tropapips lost the 1st set with Joe Aquino/Joe Dadios scoring 5-8 to the Express Roger Dapitan/Delfin Reyes. Tropapips fought back in the second set with Arnold Perez/Mohamad Mostafa winning on a tie-break 8-7 against Ronald Cadiz/Gerry Valle. Another tie-break on the 3rd set went in favor of Express when Hashim/Russell Inabangan took it at 8-7 over Arvin Mendoza/Nol Tumolva. With the odds against Tropapips at 1-2 and trailing on points 20-23, all seemed lost. Then a lucky break turned the tables when the Express duo Agot Cuevas and Jovani Benting could not suit-up and were declared default handing an 8-0 win to Tropapips' Chris Nullan/Rene Reyes. The win tied the match at 2-2, but scores were in favor of Tropapips 28-22 and thus they were declared winners. Sarimanok scored two straight wins taking the first set 8-4 with Al Manarandong/Alamansa Macapaar beating Marlon Ordono/Ahmed Sholeh. Then an 8-6 win by Sammy Macapaar/Nash Mangotara over Nour Panizales/Froi Malapad in the second set handed Sarimanok a commanding 2-0 score. In the 3rd set DJ Auto Parts' Romeo/Ramil Abdua took one from Faiz Amil/Ali Abbas via an 8-6 set to score a point. Then Ricky/Ben took the 4th set surviving the tie-break against Alimbsar Umpa/Noor Hadji Halil to tie the match at 2-2. Scores were then counted and the match was awarded to Sarimanok, winning via points 29-26. Over in the HMX category semifinal matches, RSTP defeated JCC 3-0 as Carmelo Nery/Juvy Tagudin beat Ayman/Farsi 8-4; Abdelmeten Khoja beat Karl Assaf 8-6; and Francis Idjao/Jun Ouano beat Maan Janoudi/Jeck Olaguer 8-2. In the other half, Fuchs also scored a 1-2-3 finish against NCB as Renz Lacsina/Marcial Barro defeated Loi Escabusa/Jun Miguel 8-4, followed by the singles' match 8-2 win by Eloy Torres over Allan Beltran and the 3rd set tie-break win of Jovy Abella/Boonsit Terepol over Roland Santos/Romy Payong. RSTP will now square off with Fuchs for the HMX Category crown. Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs, Jeddah (ASTEC), this team tennis tournament is being held in partnership with Al Baik Food Systems Co. as the major sponsors under the aegis of its PR Manager Bassam Al-Seyofi and Marketing Coordinator Mahmoud Al-Jaber. Also supporting 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.
