JOSHEA Malazarte pulled off a pair of lopsided victories over higher ranked rivals, including a 4-1, 4-1 romp over third seed Mia Gemida in the final, to capture the singles crown in the premier girls’ division of the PPS-PEPP Pintaflores Festival national age-group tournament in San Carlos, Negros Occidental recently.
The fourth-ranked rising star from Butuan City toppled No. 2 Khymberly McKenzie 4-1, 4-0 in the semis then sustained her form to blast Gemida, who eased out Nicole Vilar 4-2, 4-1 in the upper half of the draw of the 18-and-under division of the Group I event held as part of the host city’s Pintaflores Festival celebrations and organized by Criston Carmona.
John David Velez fought off symptoms-like flu and thwarted Cedric Bravo 2-4, 4-0, 10-4 to claim the boys’ 16-under diadem but the top-seeded bet, now based in Ozamiz City, yielded the 18-under title to Puerto Princesa’s Raven Hitosis, who scored a 1-0 (ret.) win in the event sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
Other winners were Iloilo City’s Francis De Juan (10-unisex), Kirby Ramacho from San Carlos City (boys’ 12-U), Raymund Goco from Bogo, Cebu (boys’ 14-U), Faith Banico from Siquijor (girls’ 12-U), McKenzie from Cebu (girls’ 14-U) and San Carlos City’s Bliss Bayking (girls’ 18-U)
