Entering the court for their much-awaited matchup, the Tennisters of both NU and UST were both looking forward to extending their respective undefeated streaks. Sadly for the Recto-based Tennisters, only one team can win and the UST Tennisters came out on top after an extremely close 3-2 finish.
Starting the day for the women’s category was the matchup between NU’s Christine Patrimonio and UST’s Macy Gonzales in the singles. While both Tennisters gave it all they’ve got to best their opponent, their match ended in an upset as Gonzales came out as an unexpected victor, 6-2, 6-4. Over in the doubles category, the melee between UST’s Lenelyn Milo and April Santos and NU’s Ana Bienes and Goldie Nagret ended in a similar UST victory as the NU pair fell in a one-sided 6-3, 6-1 match.
Reeling from their successive defeats, NU’s Clarice Patrimonio mounted an effective counterattack that avenged the fall of her sister as she obliterated UST’s Ingrid Gonzales, 6-0,6-0. The duo of Jzash Canja and Junnelyn Polito also delivered a stunning victory for NU, marking UST’s first defeat in the doubles category with the fall of of UST’s Shymae Gitalan and Genevieve Caorte in a close 6-4, 7-5 match.
With the tie now pushed to a do-or-die matchup between NU’s Hannah Espinosa and Kendies Malinis, both sides clearly showed everything they had as their match lasted nearly two hours. Regardless of the almost equal display of skills, one eventually had to give and that was NU’s Espinosa who fell in a deuce-filled 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 match that was arguably the most exciting match of the first round.
With the win, UST now sits on top of the standings followed by tennis powerhouses NU and DLSU in second and third respectively.
