ITF Tennis: Fil-Am Zalameda stays in the hunt

Riza Zalameda pulled off an easy victory over unheralded Sophia Mulsap of Thailand, 6-2, 6-3, to remain in the hunt in the $10,000 PLDT-Smart ITF Women's Circuit Week 2 at the Rizal Tennis Center in Manila. Zalameda, a Filipina–American and silver medalist in the mixed doubles of the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, breezed through Mulsap to set up a second round duel with Korea’s Han Nae Lae, who defeated sixth-seed Chinese He Chun Yan of China, 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Zalameda trailed 1-3 in the opening set, but flashed some kind of resiliency to win the next five games. The University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) student held her serve in the second set then broke Mulsap twice to fashion out the win in a big rebound to her first-round loss in Week 1 of the circuit. Zalameda is using the event as part of her buildup for next month’s SEA Games in Laos where she hopes to duplicate her one-gold, two-bronze haul in the 2005 Manila meet. The Philippine campaign, however, took a nosedive as Czarina Mae Arevalo and sisters Anna Christine and Anna Clarice Patrimonio were swept by the tough foreign oppositions. Other Pinays ousted Arevalo, the country’s former No. 1, dragged seventh pick Han Sung Hee of Korea into a deciding set but lost steam, 3-6, 6-2, 1-6, while fellow qualifier Zoleta struggled against Korean You Jun Hae and took a 0-6, 2-6 beating. The Patrimonios, recipients of wild card berths, also took the early exit with Anna Christine falling to Chinese Taipei's Juan Ting Fei, 2-6, 1-6, and Anna Clarice dropping a 3-6, 2-6 setback to Ivana King of the US, 3-6. Top seed Elodie Rogge-Dietrich of France also opened her title bid with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Ofri Lankri of Israel, while Week 1 runner-up and fourth pick Yoo Mi of Korea humbled compatriot Kim Sun-jung, 6-4, 7-5. Vietnamese Trang Huynh Phuong Dai toppled Australian Veronika Makovey, 6-3, 6-0 while third pick Mari Inoue of Japan thumped qualifier Katharina Lehnert of Germany, 6-3, 6-2. - Adrian Flores, GMANews.TV