Ronalds Cup Tennis Tournament

Tito/Gary Clinches Class A/B Title
December 05,2004

After a dominating performance in the round robin stage, the team of Tito/Gary confirmed their supremacy by defeating the team of Mike/Mader, 6-2 4-6 6-4 in the Bong's Doubles Cup Class A finals.

A pair that created chills after their first outing, the team has racked-up win after win since then and became virtually unthreatened in all their matches. In fact, they did not drop a single set...not until the finals

The Match:
The season ending match couldn't be more perfect & exciting than the Class A Finals of the Bong's Doubles Cup. The quality of the match is unusually high, each point is worthy of a thousand applause...

Both teams started the match at the highest level. Not a moment has passed and you'll see the court peppered with forehand winners, dipping slices and terrific lobs. Tito/Gary penetrated well enough and took an early upper hand. They broke Mike's serve instantly in the first game with a forehand down the line winner from Gary at break point. And again in the fifth game, they hammer down Mike's serve with some juicy returns from Tito for a 4-1 lead. Mader bravely withstood the onslaught and came up with unreturnable serves to hold it for the second time, but already 2-5 down. Tito close out the first set with a chain of the much talked about forehand.

Mader opened the 2nd set with a double fault at break point to make the future look more unsure. But he responded well on the next game by blocking the 200kph monster forehands from Tito to take the break back. For the first time, they have broken their opponent's serve, a plus point to a broken confidence. Since then, the resistance has become stronger than ever. They employed a new strategy, the I formation to further confuse their opponent. Mike held his serve for the first time in the 3rd game with a solid blocks from Mader and an overhead smash from Mike to move in front. And in the 8th game, they successfully melted Tito's serve with wicked attacks and crisp volleys. Down 3-5 in the set, Tito/Gary came back crushing Mader's serve with awesome shots from the baseline to bring the set on serve. But on the next game, Gary served two hot double faults coupled with heavy returns from Mike to pay the price of the second set, the first set they ever lost in the entire tournament.

Third set, the pressure is building up from both team but the quality is still at its peak. Amazing rallies, smashes, clever defense, scramblings are still the main course. But one thing is noticeable, nobody is holding serve anymore. Break of serve after break, it became a match of who hold serve first wins. The score stands at 3-3 on break. In the 7th game, Mike came up with thunderous serves and Mader blasted the ball at the net to take a 40-15 advantage. But a series of loose points from both followed and the break continues. At 4-3, Gary smack a weak lob from Mader and fired an ace for a first hold of serve in the 3rd set and a critical 5-3 lead. Mader replied with tricky serve and Mike with overhead winner to hold serve as well and stay in the match. At 5-4, Tito once again released the venom of his signature forehand to set up 2 match points. And after 1 hour and 45 minutes, the match ended when Mader failed to return a blinding lob from Tito.

Credits go to both teams for such a fantastic showing. Especially to Mike/Mader...just when you thought no team could match the power of Tito/Gary. The crowd were surely delighted with all the actions, including the special guest, Timothy, a 15 year old boy who plays tennis since he was 10. For the record, this boy has never lost a singles match in his young career and during his matches, he serve nothing but ace...wah-lau! He finds the ball heavy though and he thought the finals is shown live on TV!