The University of Santo Tomas defeated Ateneo de Manila University 4-1 in the UAAP Season 86 men’s tennis tournament, advancing to a twice-to-beat semifinal incentive.
The Tigers remained on top of the standings at 9-1, followed by the Blue Eagles at 8-2.
“We did not expect to lose the second singles. Ateneo has good players, so we must always be prepared,” said UST coach Johnny Arcilla, a 10-time singles champion at the prestigious Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open.
UST raced to a 2-0 lead after EJ Tangub won the first singles over Austin delos Santos, 6-2, 6-1, while Nash Agustines and Richard Bautista downed Nio Tria and Axl Gonzaga, 6-2, 6-4, in the first doubles match.
The Blue Eagles made it 1-2 following Noy Seno’s 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Rookie/MVP Nilo Ledama in the second singles match.
But the Tigers regained their form, with Steven Sonsona and Symon Jaculan prevailing over JJ Llavore and Stef Gurria, 6-3, 7(4)-6, and Seb Santos, scoring a 6-2, 6-4 win over rookie JD Velez, to wrap up the best-of-five tie.
“UST is just an adamant team to beat as all players are high level,” Ateneo coach Gee Abacan said.
“All of their entries are tough. We need to play well to beat one of them, just like Noy beat Nilo Ledama, the best player in the UAAP last year. Otherwise, one will have a hard time beating UST’s caliber.
As for Ateneo, we will regroup and go back to training, of course. No other solution, but we will go train again,” he added.
Meanwhile, UE outplayed Adamson University, 3-2, to gain a share of second place.
National University also prevailed over De La Salle University, 3-2, to improve to 5-4, followed by the University of the Philippines at 3-7.
Adamson is sixth at 1-9, while La Salle has a 1-10 slate.
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