Sept 13,2004 - Maureen Rojas beat Pearl Ballarta 6-2 6-1 in the finals last Saturday to claim her first Ladies' Ronald's Cup title. Maureen's steady baseline game wore down the defending champion in exhausting rallies. She mixed her game well with deep and short shots keeping Pearl on the run. Her win moves her up to No.3 in the ranking. Despite her loss, Pearl has accumulated enough points to remain at No.1 spot.
Rene Arconcil won the title for the Men's Class C category. He defeated Clint Viray 6-3 6-2 in the finals. With enourmous amount of consistency, he finished the match with the quickest time among all the finals. Clint rarely gets a free point from him. The only time Rene lost his focus was when he was serving for the match at 5-1 in the second set. Some uncharacteristic shots came out from his racket and he was broken by Clint. Though in the next game, he broke back right away when Clint hit a wide forehand at match point. With the victory, Rene moves 29 places up from No.49 to No.20 in the ranking. Clint will move from No.48 to No.26.
In a match full of spins, Jeffrey Sobredilla came through with a 7-5 7-5 win over Chito Garcia to take Men's Class B title. Both played an aggressive tennis hitting the ball with tremendous topspin deep to the baseline and a killer underspin that drops just over the net. Chito was up a break throughout the first set only to surrender it at the crucial moment. At 5 games all, Jeffrey charged up to take the next two games to close the first set at 7-5. Jeffrey was quickly up 5-1 in what looks like a one sided second set before Chito made another huge comeback and took 4 straight games to tie at 5 games all. But then again, Chito came up short at the critical stages of the match while Jeffrey stepped forward and took the final two games. Jeffrey will move to a career high No.7 in the ranking while Chito moves to No.14.
Maynard Suralta won his second Ronald's Cup title by beating Rex Bonicillo 7-6 6-4 in the Men's Class A final. It was a close contest as both has his own a set point in the first set. Maynard was leading 5-3 and is serving for the set before Rex stormed back and took the next 3 games to lead at 6-5. Maynard courageously saved a set point and broke back to push the first set to a tie break. After long exchanges, Maynard eventually took the tie break at 7-4. Rex was up a break 4-2 in the second and has a break point to move to 5-2 up but Maynard save it and held his serve. The tempo of the match was totally changed when "dinner is ready" was announced. Maynard start to play faster and his net game became more effective. Rex on the other hand became slower to react on Maynard's big forehands and quick volleys. Maynard then took the next 4 games to close out the match. Rex fell 0-2 in the finals and has to settle for 1st Runner-Up for the second consecutive series. He lost to Michael Castro in the Series IV finals. Maynard will take over the No.1 spot from Freddie Aoanan in the ranking while Rex moves up to No.3.
Right after the finals, the fun and excitement continues at the Player's Party held at the Bayshore Park Clubhouse. A buffet dinner was served followed by the awarding of trophies to the runner-ups and the champions. A raffle draw highlighted the event with Jeffrey Sobredilla and Awel Dolot bagging the grand prize. Both took home $50 Royal Sporting House voucher. The party was hosted by our very own Edil Apura.
Big thanks to the ronaldscuppers from Bayshore for providing us the venue for the finals and the party. Ban, Pearl, Jepoy, Mader & Wacks!
So there's the conclusion of the Ronald's Cup Series V Championship. Another series another success! The committee would like to thank all the participants for the time and dedication to the tournament despite your busy work schedules. Your support has kept the Ronald's Cup a success! See you all in the next series. CHEERS!
Sept 10,2004 - Maynard Suralta has yet to face a tough challenge in his bid for a 2nd Ronald's Cup title. He beat Chris Jimenez 6-2 6-1 last night to move into the Men's Class A finals without having lost a set. He is solid from the baseline and his attacking game is too much for Chris to handle. He managed to pin Chris at the baseline and Chris is forced to create angles for his passing shots. Some shots went in superbly but in most occasions missed the target. Maynard's opponent in the finals is Rex Bonicillo, a 6-2 7-5 winner over Rico Pelaez in the other semifinal. Rex took the first set with relative ease but Rico regrouped and went up 5-2 in the second set. Both tried to outdo each other with clever shots but Rex's skillful maneuvering paid more dividend as he rallied to take 5 straight games to claim the set and the match. This is Rex's second consecutive final appearance.
Sept 09,2004 - Clint Viray is through to the finals after beating Eric Gutierrez, 6-4 7-5 in their semifinal match last night. It was a straight set victory for Clint but not an easy one as Eric put up a good fight till the end. Clint will face Rene Arconcil on Saturday for the Men's Class C title match.
Men's Class B final will be a showdown between Chito Garcia and Jeffrey Sobredilla. Both have won their respective semifinal match last night @ Ronald's Cup Tennis Center in Bayshore. Jepoy trounced Geny Canencia 6-3 6-2 in the first semifinal. Geny has not played his best and offered little resistance as Jepoy cruised to another routine victory. In the second semifinal, Chito Garcia put up a gigantic effort to overcome Bing De Los Reyes in a nail-biting 3 set thriller. Chito won 4-6 7-6 7-6 after saving "libo-libong" match points. Bing was serving 5-2 (40-15) in the second set when Chito came back to life.
Sept 07,2004 - Last series' finalist Rex Bonicillo finds himself in a familiar territory as he continues to march on towards another final appearance. He beat Frank Jonathan, the top qualifier of Squad C 7-6 2-0 in the quarterfinal last night at Bayshore Park. It was a great start for Frank but after losing the tie break in the first set, seems like nothing was left and he was forced to retire while trailing in the 2nd set. Rex will meet his squadmate Rico Pelaez in the semifinal. Rex lost to Rico in the round robin. Interestingly, Chris Jimenez is from the same squad and he also made it to the semifinals. Could this be a squad A affair in the finals? Maynard got the answer!
Sept 06,2004 - Defending Ladies' champ Pearl Ballarta survived a tough challenge from newcomer Imarie Consolacion in the first ladies' semifinal last Saturday. It was an evenly contested match as both ladies has to work really hard to get a point. But Pearl stepped up on key points and came through in straight sets, 6-4 7-6. Standing in her way of making a double is Maureen Rojas, who dispatched Mitch Tinte 6-2 6-4 in the second semifinal last Sunday. Maureen is the top qualifier in the round robin where she beat Pearl 9-7 in their round robin match.
Sept 04,2004 - Another former champ went down when Freddie Aoanan lost to hard-hitting Christopher Jimenez in their quarterfinal clash last night. Armed with a 'power forehand', Chris took the match 6-4 6-1 in a little more than an hour and set up a semifinal encounter with Maynard Suralta. Freddie's exit completes the Class A Squad B strikeout as the 3 qualifiers from the squad were all eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Sept 02,2004 - Rene Arconcil's good run at tournaments continues as he again put himself up into the finals, now on Ronald's Cup Men's Class C. He was both a finalist in the 2nd & 3rd Bayshore Doubles Open this year. He beat Allan Leong 6-2 6-4 in their semifinal match last night at Melville Park.
In Class B, Jeffrey Sobredilla won his quarterfinal match against Sofio Maderazo in another tight contest that was concluded in two days. This is a rematch of the Series IV semifinal where Mader won in 3 very close sets.
Meanwhile, in a high profile quarterfinal match, reigning Class A champ Michael Castro bowed out of the tournament losing 1-6 2-6 to Maynard Suralta, the Series I champ.