Mcleen Gomera came away with a two-title romp while Kimi Brodeth pulled off a win and a runner-up finish as they clinched Most Valuable Player honors in the Buglasan Festival National Juniors Tennis Championships at the Praxevilla hard courts in Dumaguete City recently.
The top-seeded Gomera, 16, yielded just nine games in four matches to rule his age category, capping his domination with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 5 Ariel Cabaral from Bais City.
The Bacolod, Lanao del Norte star then trounced Thomas Gabuat from Zamboanga del Norte, 6-1, 6-1, in the 18-U finals to emerge the lone “double” winner in the event capping the Buglasan Festival celebrations that also featured the Open Championship topped by Zamboanga’s Jose Maria Pague.
But Brodeth needed to buck a big scare from Judy Ann Padilla as she squeaked out a tough 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 decision to claim the girls’ 16-U diadem.
The Ormoc City ace missed matching Gomera’s feat and her own two-title exploits in Mandaue last August as she dropped a 7-6(1), 6-2 setback to Quezon City’s Tiffany Nocos in the centerpiece event of the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop president Bobby Castro.
Meanwhile, action in the PPS-PEPP national age-group resumes tomorrow in Ormoc City with the Brodeth siblings and Fiel tipped to showcase their wares again before the home crowd.
The circuit then moves to Baybay City, also in Leyte, from 20 to 24 October.
Also posting top podium finishes in the event are Kurt Barrera and Shara Paliwag, both from Negros Oriental, Cebu City’s David Sepulveda and Ma. Caroliean Fiel, also from Ormoc City.
Barrera, who survived Rain Ninal, 4-5(5), 4-0, 10-7, in the quarters, scored a 6-2(ret.) win over Kenzo Brodeth in the finals, while the second-seeded Paliwag upended No. 1 Therese Gauran, also from Negros Oriental, 6-1, 6-2, to share the 14-U trophies.
Sepulveda, on the other hand, repelled Matthew Morris, 6-4, 1-6, 10-8, while Fiel fended off Negros Oriental’s Alexa Cruspero, 6-3, 6-4, to split the 12-U honors.