JEDDAH — Team Orange clinched top ranking in the semifinals of the SPTC HeatWave Tennis Challenge at the Abdulaziz University Sports Complex here. Team Orange's Vic Rebong and Roman Alcantara were out of form in the first game against Team Red's Yousuf Adriatico and Sherwin Nervais, losing their service game in the rescheduled doubles match that had at stake the top spot into the semifinal round. Rebong let slip his serves after a deuce and then onwards to the ensuing sudden-death play. Adriatico and Nervais of Red took the first game. However, the Orange pair's opening jitters turned out to be glitters all the way after that, as the Red pair lost coordination and succumbed to their opponent's strategic and well-placed shots. Rebong and Alcantara took cruise control over all the opportunities of service breaks, holding their own serves throughout after the first game to seal victory at 8-1. Orange's fifth set victory installed it into number one rank, going into the semifinal round, having recorded their win-loss haul to 2-l after the round-robin phase of the tournament to tie Team Blue's 2-1 overall standing. But having the most number of sets won at 9, Team Orange prevailed over Team Blue, who had a total of 8 sets won. Team Red went all out against Team Green, aiming for the top spot that was still up for grabs if it could sweep its opponent 5-0. Uly Bartolata and Mario Betorio of Team Red had it 1-0 after a difficult start that went through a deuce and a sudden-death serve. The games that followed were a see-saw battle, resulting from 2-2 till 7-7 ties and 7 sudden-death serves. Team Green's pair of Nep Rosco and Roy Timtiman stood firm on center court and took control on net games to catch up (1-2, 3-4, 6-7) and tie at 7-all after winning a sudden-death serve. But Team Red's Bartolata and Betorio had the match wrapped up in the deciding tie-breaker that followed with a 7-5 finish. In another match, which had been psyched up as the game to watch, Team Red's singles master player, Eman Usman, caught fire early on with a 3-0 lead and stayed hot down the stretch with his sizzling baseline shots and frequent foray to the net against Hajji Pilongo of Team Green. The Red's player blitzed the court with decisive shots that clipped the baseline games of the usually consistent Pilongo. Usman broke his opponent's serve in the fourth game and held his own in the fifth to come up with a cool 5-1 lead. He peppered his opponent's court in the eighth game with stunning cross-court shots that closed the match at 6-3, and brought home the most-coveted title, Best Singles Player the Tournament. Team Green's top doubles pair of Romy Sorra and Norwin Catipay blocked their opponent's bid for another win in the third set, as they broke loose from 2-3 deficits to break the service games of Team Red's Waymour Carmelotes in the sixth game and that of Celso Abella in the eighth, followed up with Team Green's winning serves in the seventh and ninth games to post a commanding 6-3 lead. The Red's pair mounted a comeback fight to get close at 6-7, and held the advantage to level the score for a possible 7-7 tie with their own service games. But Carmelotes failed to hold serve and lost the match at game points 30-40, to surrender the third match to Team Green at 8-6 match points. Team Green's momentum continued in the fourth set, and restrained Team Red's advance. Jun Tomas and Mansur Jamiri came out fighting back from 0-1, 2-3, 3-4, and 4-5 deficits, then came up with the big shots at key points to cap the decisive points from 5-5 onwards to nail down an 8-5 decision against Team Red's Ali Callanta and Sherwin Nervais. From 2-sets all, Team Red romped away with the fifth set by default due to the no-show of the Team Green's doubles pair. That earned Team Red the third rank with 7 points. Team Green finished as fourth with 6 points.
