ARCHIVES-RP TENNIS

Pinoy Netters Move Up World Rankings

http://goodnewspilipinas.com/2008/03/17/pinoy-netters-move-up-world-rankings/
Posted on March 17th, 2008

Philippine tennis stars and Southeast Asian games gold medallists Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino are
making waves in the U-S tennis pro circuit. Their experience, Filipino tennis officials say will go a long
way in their quest for gold at the Asian Games in Doha later this year.

In a recent $50,000 Challenger of Santa Clarita tournament in Santa Clarita Valley, California, Mamiit
advanced to the quarterfinals where before bowing to German star Benjamin Becker, the 2004 NCAA
singles champion from Baylor University and a Wimbledon juniors veteran.
As for Taino, although he lost in the first round, he was cited for taking the eventual champion to
three grueling sets.

In April, Taino and Mamiit campaigned separately with encouraging results. Taino competed in the
Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells and reached the second round. He trounced Jiri Vanek of the Czech
Republic, 6-4, 7-5, then lost to Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-2, 6-2. Mamiit, in contrast, won the
doubles championship of the Romano Cup with Lee Hyung Taik of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City,
defeating Jacob Adaktusson of Sweden and Sela, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals.

On the way to the throne, Mamiit and Lee ousted Norikazu Sugiyama of Japan and Wang Yu of China,
4-6, 6-1, 10-5, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and Peng Sun of China, 6-4, 6-3, and Chen Ti of Chinese-
Taipei and Philip King of the US, 6-4, 6-2.

In the Romano Cup singles, Mamiit wasn’t as lucky. He swept his first two assignments, downing No. 7
seed Michal Mertinak of Slovakia, 7-6 (6), 6-1, and China’s Peng Sun, 6-0, 6-2, then lost to the world’s
No. 85 and Asia’s No. 2 player Wang Yeu Tzuoo of Chinese-Taipei, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals.

Aside from Mamiit and Taino, also creating a stir in overseas competitions is Patrick John Tierro.
Tierro, who won a gold in the men’s team event in the SEA Games, made it to the quarterfinals of the
$25,000 Masters satellite circuit at the RK Khanna Stadium in New Delhi recently. He whipped No. 7
seed Hyun Woo Nam of Korea, 6-4, 6-4, before losing to Austrian veteran and top-ranked Herbert
Wiltschnig.

Tierro trains at the Subic Bay International Tennis Center under Beeyong Sison. He is only in his
second year on the International Tennis Federation and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)
tour. Sison, an assistant national coach of the Swiss Tennis Federation in 1986, has laid out a five-year
development plan for Tierro to scale the heights of tennis. The plan is based on the premise that the
peak performance of male tennis players is between the ages of 24 to 26.
Tierro is now ranked No. 903 in the world, up from No. 1171 before the satellite circuit. Taino is
currently ranked No. 229 and Mamiit No. 251 by the ATP. The world’s top three players are No. 1
Roger Federer of Switzerland, No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain and No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina.