3rd Bayshore Open
(Doubles event)
Venue: Bayshore Park Tennis courts
Date & Time: August 7, 2004 5-11pm
Registration Fee: $20 per person
Format: race to 8 games
Teams:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
August 7, 2004. The 3rd Bayshore Open is the largest group so far, with 24 people ranked according to their skills. The number 1 ranked will team-up with the 24th ranked, number 2 and 23, and so on and so forth. The ranking of all the 24 players was very difficult because there were so many who have same skill levels. Only the #1 spot was the easiest to fill up with Marvin Almario easily getting it. Marvin is a very active member of the Filipino Tennis Club (one of the most prestigious tennis clubs in Singapore) with a Class A level (highest level). We are very thankful to him for participating in this tournament.
The day started brightly as the weather was sunny with no hint of rain. Once all of the players arrived, the photo session immediately took place with Marvin being the official photographer that day. After the shoot the elimination round began with Chris-Neil going up against Freddie-Awel in court 4 and Ban-Mader playing against the favorites Marvin-RJ.
Group A had the most difficult elimination round since all of the three teams are equally matched. But it was the team-up of Freddie-Awel who didn’t make it to the next round as they lost to both of their opponents by blowing early big leads. The match-up of the other two teams was won by Alger-Allan as they won a nail-biting 8-7 game against the hard-serving team-up of Chris-Neil.
Group B had the strongest team eliminated in the first round. The team-up of Rico-Marco, one of the top teams of the tournament, won 8-6 in their first match against Mike-Clint but lost heavily against Eugene-Erle, heaviest team of the tournament in terms of weight, in an 8-3 upset. It was Mike-Clint who got the top spot as they easily beat Eugene-Erle, 8-5.
Group C was the most exciting group to watch mainly because it was the first time for almost everyone to see Marvin play and he didn’t disappoint anyone. Marvin-RJ beat both of their opponents and advanced easily in the quarterfinals. The other match saw the former champions go up against each other and it was Ban-Mader who prevailed against Paul-Jepoy.
Group D was another tough group but the team-up of Aljoes-Rene was just in another level as they won both their matches. It was the team-up of Chito-Geny who didn’t quite click as they lost both their matches while Mike-Sey quietly sneaked into the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, the top group will play against the bottom group of the other group. In the first match, the strong serves of both Chris and Neil overcame an early lead by Mike-Clint and never looked back. It will be a rematch in the semi-finals as Alger-Allan won over Eugene-Erle in the quarters in the longest match of the tournament as no one wanted to lose. In the other group, it was Marvin-RJ who advanced first as they beat Mike-Sey in an exhausting game. While Aljoes-Rene advanced easily as they beat Ban-Mader.
In the semis, the rematch of Chris-Neil and Alger-Allan was a disappointment as the latter immediately jumped to a 5-0 lead and never looked back. The strong serving Chris-Neil was neutralized by the good net game of both Alger and Allan. In the other group, it was a heavyweight match-up between Marvin-RJ and Aljoes-Rene. Both of them went toe to toe in the first few games but Aljoes-Rene took it strong in the end by winning 8-5 as Marvin-RJ both looked exhausted.
The finals was the most exciting game of the tournament because both of the teams really deserved to be there and are equally matched in terms of skills. Aljoes-Rene won the toss coin and opted to serve first. Aljoes served first and held convincingly by serving strongly while releasing a strong “uugghhh” ala Seles. Alger also held serve but had a lot of help from his partner’s strong net game. It was Rene’s turn to hold serve but it wasn’t to be. His serve was broken but it was their turn to break the serve of Allan and so they did and the game was again breakeven at 2-2. With Aljoes serving again, Alger-Allan took the challenge and gave a strong fight to break his serve. While at deuce, controversy came. A down-the-line shot by Allan was called wide by Rene but Allan thought otherwise. In the end, the point was replayed but Aljoes’ serve was broken via a double fault. Then it was hold serve for both teams up to the end as the championship trophies were taken home by Alger-Allan.
Tournament highlights include a winner by Jepoy against Marvin, RJ’s returns against Aljoes, strong serves of Marvin, Chris, Mike Castro, Aljoes and Clint, strong net games of Mike Cenina, Jepoy, Allan, Alger, Neil, Eugene and Sey, Paul’s great form but inconsistent play, Rico’s “He’s everywhere” play, Chito and Geny’s poor showing in the tournament, come from behind losses of Freddie and Awel, photo shoots of all the players, raffle draw of balls won by Clint, Ban and Chris, awarding of trophies to the finalists.
Thanks to everyone. Hope to see you again in the next Bayshore Open. Once again, the tournament’s a success. =)