JEDDAH — Team NCB (National Commercial bank) stormed its way into the semifinals by blanking a stunned DP World team in one of the quarterfinals of the MMX category as another quarterfinalist, Shuman-JIS, took a longer route and had to endure a tie-break in the fourth and final set against a fighting DJ Auto Parts to secure its berth in the semifinals of the 4th Al Baik Team Tennis Challenge, being played at the Al-Bilad tennis courts. Meanwhile in the LMX category, Hidada-Hitec defeated Saudia Catering 3-1 to improve its chances of landing in the quarterfinals. The NCB Middle Mix (MMX) team had a field day as it won in straight sets against DP World via a 3-0 margin. Firing off with Ricky Mediavillo and Rommel Divinagracia's 8-6 win in the first set against Joe Bao and Joel Chan, the trend was followed by Bien Villeta and Lito Mosquera who defeated Gil Tingabngab and Arnel Gapate at 8-4 in the second set. In the third set, Cliff Castaneda with team captain Sohail Hafez ended the hostilities as they scored an 8-2 win over Jotham Matin-ao and Ador Olivo to complete the sweep and bring their team into the semifinal round against Sarimanok. Victory nearly escaped Shuman-JIS as Lito De Mesa and Albert Bayot lost the tie-break in the third set against Ricky Delgado and Romeo Espino 7-8 to trail DJ Auto Parts 1-2. First set was won by DJ Auto's Ben and Nour Panizales, also via a tie-break, over Sanny Valencia and Sam Silvestre and the second set was won by JIS with Renz Lacsina and Dennis Lindog scoring an 8-3 win against Ahmed Sholeh and Marlon Ordono. In the all-important fourth and final set, DJ Auto's Froi Malapad and Ramil Abdua was already leading 5-2 in the match when Rey Lacsina and Joey Ibay mounted a last-ditch rally and tied at 5-5 until scores reached 7-7, forcing a tie-break. Lacsina and Ibay won the tie-break and the set enabling them to tie at 2-2 and win via points to grab their slot in semifinals against RSTP. A closely-fought first set was decided via tie-break which Hidada-Hitec's Elmer and Ramon lost to Saudia Catering's Nour Halil and Nick Catimbang 7-8. But Hitec did not lose focus and instead poured in on the three remaining sets to defeat its opponent with a 3-1 score. Second set went to Andrew and James scoring an 8-1 win over Nash Mangotara and Dr. Mounir. Third set saw Joseph and Pons Hernandez defeating Art and Raffy via an 8-3 card and in the fourth set, Bennie and Rene found little opposition from Alex Modi and Farouk Salacop to win with an 8-3 score. Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs, Jeddah (ASTEC), this team tennis tournament is 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. 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.
