Despite the leveling of the playing field in this year’s UAAP men’s tennis tournament, there is one team which is favored to win it all. And as early as the opening weekend, that team is living up to their billing.
The University of the East Red Warriors commenced their bid for their first-ever UAAP title with twin kills of Katipunan-based squads Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles and University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The Recto-based team shook off rain delays and a fighting Ateneo side to secure a 3-1 win, Saturday.
In the first singles match, Davis Cup campaigner AJ Lim dominated Vernon Huibonhua in two love sets, 6-0, 6-0, to start his UAAP career strong.
Along with this, UE also took the two doubles matches. Rolly Saga and Rogelio Estaño edged out Luke Flores and Erj Gatdula, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, in the first of these matches. On the other hand, Paulo Baran and Jeric Delos Santos pulled a close one over Julian Dayrit and Anton Punzalan, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the win for the Red and White.
Marcen Gonzales took one back for the Blue Eagles, winning over Josshua Kinaadman, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in the second singles match. Afterwards, Ino Canlas took the first set of the third singles at 6-4 over Rodolfo Barquin Jr. before play was postponed due to continuous rain.
In the following day, the Red Warriors continued their rampage, blanking last year’s finalists UP.
Head coach Numero Lim’s brilliance in fielding players bore fruit as the Warriors took advantage of the Maroons’ youth.
Saga showed versatility after stopping UP rookie Vincent Alanis in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, in the first singles match. In the nearby court, UAAP 77 Rookie of the Year Kinaadaman also did well in the doubles as he and Estaño swept Maroon fourth-year player Kyle Joseph and newbie Mimo Tomacruz, 6-1, 6-3, in the first singles match.
The rout continued as UP’s pair of Gabriel Guttierez and Elijah Arevalo could not build on their strong starts, and Baran and Delos Santos took the win 6-3, 6-4, in the other doubles match. Barquin Jr. likewise closed out his third singles match for the Warriors, finishing off the upstart UP rookie Joel Atienza, 6-0, 6-2.
In the farthest court, it was an exciting tussle between UE’s AJ Lim and UP’s Joshua Cano. The third-year Maroon raced to 4-3 leads in either sets after taking service breaks.
The rookie finished off the first, however, with a 3-0 blast to end it at 6-3. Cano would not have any of that in the second, forcing a tiebreak, before AJ Lim closed it out with a huge 6-1 run.
Coach Numero Lim was visibly pleased of the strong start. “For this weekend, we were very lucky to start UAAP Season 79. Batak na batak naman yung mga players natin. Hopefully, magtuloy yung momentum hanggang matapos yung season.”
“Sana yung mga players, tuluy-tuloy yung hunger na makuha yung first UAAP title for tennis ng UE,” he said.
Such hunger will be tested on Wednesday, as the Red Warriors (2-0) go up against the University of Santo Tomas Male Tennisters (1-0) at 2pm.
On the same day, the Maroons (0-1) will take on the De La Salle University Green Tennisters (1-0) at 8am, then the Blue Eagles (1-1) will square off with the National University Bulldogs (0-1) at noon.
