CHRISTINE PATRIMONIO

Local tennis gets a big boost with four international tournaments lined up in the next four weeks starting with the Holcim/ITF Women’s Circuit Week I firing off November 9 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The qualifying sign-in is on Saturday (November 7) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Philta office with the qualifying matches set on November 8 and 9. and the main dra matches to start November 10.

The Philippines has been awarded four wild cards in the main draw of the event sanctioned by the Internationial Tennis Federation, including the comebacking Maricris Fernandez, Riza Zalameda, Anna Christine Patrimonio plus one more to be named later.

Fernandez remained the only Filipino winner in the last 11 stagings of the annual event, bagging the inaugural crown in 1998 before the foreign bets started to dominate the competition.

The circuit is sponsored by Holcim, PLDT/Smart and Phinman and backed by Tecnifibre Balls, the official tournament balls, Viva Mineral Water, Powerade and the Philippine Sports Commision.

The quest for top honors and ITF ranking points in women’s tennis resumes on November 17-21 with the staging of the PLDT/Smart Women’s Circuit Week 2 with the qualifying sign-in set November 14, also at the Philta office.

The qualifying matches will be held on November 15-16. Main draw matches will unfold on November 17 with Fernandez, Zalameda and Patrimonio again given wild cards for the tournament.

Action heats up in Week 3 when the Phinma International Juniors Tennis Championships Week I (ITF Grade 4) is held November 24-29. The qualifying sign-in is set November 21 with the qualifiers slated on November 22-23. The main draw sign-in will be held November 23 with the matches to start November  24.

The Phinma International Juniors Tennis Championships Week 2 wraps up the month-long circuit on December 1-5 with the qualifying sign-on set on November 28 and the qualifying matches slated on November 29-30.

Registration for the Phinma Week 2 tilt is ongoing and will end on November 9, according to the organizing Philta.