With the first round of the UAAP Season 77 Tennis Tournament drawing to an end, an embattled ADMU Blue Tennisters were hoping to finally cut their losing streak at the expense of their UST counterparts. This, however, was not how the day ended as UST proved to be too much, leaving ADMU to exit the first round with a 0-5 record.
Starting what was the beginning of the end of the first round was the match between ADMU’s Ralph Antonia and UST’s Francis Lanzado wherein UST drew first blood after Lanzado dispatched Antonio in a quick and one-sided 6-1, 6-2 match. The fall of Antonio, however, was soon followed by Ino Canlas’ victory over Joel Cabusas in a three-set match that ended 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 thanks to Canlas’ late game comeback. Ino Canlas’ victory was wasted though when Claudio Canlas was unable to maintain the momentum and fell against UST’s Bernlou Bering.
UST’s winning match came from the doubles tandem of Francis Patino and Al Francis Potutan who delivered the killing blow after defeating ADMU’s AJ Rivero and Johann Exconde 6-1, 6-3. Despite the lost tie, the ADMU squad was still able to lessen the beating suffered from the tennis powerhouse as Anton Punzalan and Erj Gatdula defeated UST’s final doubles tandem of Berno Leroy Bering and Warren Lagahit in a close 7-6, 7-6 match.
