Tennis: Patrombon gropes for form at the Thailand Futures series

After lackluster performances in the first and second leg of the Thailand Futures tournament, Jeson Patrombon will try to find his rhythm as he goes up against American Nathaniel Gorham in the third leg of the Thailand Futures series at the Rama Garden Sports Complex in Bangkok, Thailand. In the first leg of the competition, Patrombon struggled to find  consistency, losing his early lead to fall to Indonesia's David Susanto, 6-7(6), 2-6. Patrombon's coach Manny Tecson seemed unfazed by his ward's early exit. "In fairness to Jeson, this is actually his first tournament where he is not feeling any pain since his ankle injury. I am happy with the progress because now we can focus on our strategies and physical conditioning instead of worrying always if his ankle is hurting after practice or not," said Tecson. Patrombon missed the second round of the Davis Cup Group II playoffs due to an injury he sustained in the Japan circuit. In the second leg of the Thailand Futures, Patrombon won a hard-fought first round battle against Germany's Dominik Schulz, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8). Again, Patrombon opened up with an early 5-0 lead before the 6-foot-5 German grabbed the next three sets to inch closer to the Filipino. With the game at 5-3, the German made a move to even up, breaking Patrombon's serve to go up three break points 0-40. The Filipino rallied to reach deuce, then nailed a big serve after 10 deuces to take the set at 6-3. In the second set, the 1088th-ranked Schulz went up 4-1 against Patrombon, but the Iligan native managed to hold serve to inch closer at 4-2. At that point, Schulz failed to keep his cool, throwing a tantrum in the sidelines after he double faulted in a crucial exchange. Seizing the opportunity, Patrombon went on to tie the second set at 4-4. From then on, the Filipino proved to be more solid in tied situations, going for 10-8 in the final tiebreaker to take the second set, 7-6. "Jeson realizes that there is no substitute for hard work and even though we are fighting sometimes because I am pushing him out of his comfort zone, now he knows to win you must be willing to put the extra mile in your training and preparation. The hardest part for a coach is to make him believe again in his capabilities and to push him harder in training to get his strength back," Tecson added. In the second round of Leg 2, Patrombon faced number eight seed Abdullah Maqdas, who showed why he is 250 places higher in the world rankings. Propelled by 15 aces, the Kuwaiti drove the ball to find the lines and the corners, as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win. "We accept the loss and we have to move forward," said Tecon. "Jeson and I had our talk and I told him to stay positive because this second leg has shown us a lot of improvements in his game both physically and mentally. "I also told him in yesterday’s match against Schulz, he showed a lot of maturity and toughness to win that match under heavy pressure, but we have to keep on improving more on his mental game to have consistent results in the Pro Tour." - AMD, GMA News