Fil-British Meredith Jones continued her winning ways while Albert Lim Jr. made his presence felt by cruising into the quarterfinals of the Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup/ITF Asia 14-Under Developmental Championship 2013 Division I at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.
Jones, seeded eighth and the country’s remaining bet to win in the girls’ division, waylaid Hong Kong bet Lam Wing Kiu, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the quarters of the event using a compass round format.
The top-seeded Lim, who earned an opening round bye, hardly broke a sweat in dispatching Jiang Xingsheng of China, 6-1, 6-0, in the event sponsored by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund and the Philippine Tennis Academy and backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Technifibre Balls, Wilkins, Mariposa Foundation and Trans-Asia Corp.
Jones’ victory set her up a next meeting with Korean fourth pick Jang Eunse, who needed an extra set to beat China’s Youmi Zhuoma, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Other female netters moving into the next round were No. 1 Tang Yutong of China, who whipped Korea’s Park Juhul, 6-0, 6-2; No. 3 Yingle Jittakoat of Thailand, who edged Kyrgyzstan’s Eliza Askarova, 6-4, 6-4; No. 7 Himani Mor of India, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Korean Park Mijeong; No. 6 Ren Jiaqi of China, a 6-3, 6-0 victor over Sri Lankan Medhira Samarasinghe; and No. 2 Mihika Yadav of India, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Thai Priyachanok Sukkanha.
Other Filipino netters succumbed late Monday in the opening round with Arthur Craig Pantino losing to Hong Kong’s Lam Ching, 6-4, 6-1, Jan Godfrey Seno bowing to Korean Kim Hyunjoo, 6-2, 6-4, John Bryan Otico yielding to Thailand’s Sirawat Daosaengsawang, 6-0, 7-6 (1), and Jerome Romualdez absorbing a 6-1, 6-1 defeat over Nguyen Dac Tien of Vietnam.