Kimi Brodeth and Mcleen Gomera pulled off a win and runner-up finish each and split MVP honors in the PPS-PEPP national age group tennis circuit for the second straight week in the City of Naga leg in Cebu over the weekend.
Brodeth bucked a lackluster opening set game then wore down Judy Ann Padilla in the decider to pound out a 0-6, 6-2, 10-2 victory for her third straight triumph in the girls’ 16-and-under class following her romps in the Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City legs of the four-leg swing of the country’s longest talent-search in Cebu.
The Ormoc City lass, however, missed matching her golden double feat in Mandaue as Lapu-Lapu City’s Tiffany Nocos got back at her with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 reversal in the premier 18-U category of the Group 1 tournament.
Meanwhile, the Cebu leg of the circuit winds up in Consolacion starting Thursday.
Gomera likewise re-asserted his mastery of the boys’ 16-U field, blasting Benedict Lim, 6-1, 6-1, in the finals although the Bacolod, Lanao del Norte fell short of his 18-U title bid, absorbing another 6-2, 6-1 defeat from last week’s tormentor John David Velez, also from Ormoc.
Sharing the top podium finish were Juliana Tenepre from Mandaue, and Ormoc’s Renante Bravo in the 14-U division, and Ma. Caroliean Fiel from Ormoc and Cabanatuan’s Lexious Cruz in the 12-U class of the week-long tournament marked by a couple of reversals.
The unranked Tenepre flashed top form as she shocked top seed Joy Ansay, 7-5, 5-7, 10-1, in the semis then upended No. 3 Kate Imalay from Danao, Cebu, 2-6, 6-3, 10-3, while the top ranked Bravo routed Tayasan, Negros’ Kurt Barrera, 6-3, 6-1.
