Tennis: Filipina upsets younger Tomic, reaches semis of Korean tourney

Filipina Maika Jae Tanpoco scored a big upset on Friday, defeating Australia's number one player and tournament fourth seed Sarah Tomic, 6-2 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Seogwipo Asia Oceania International Junior Tennis Championships in South Korea.

Tanpoco, who just turned eighteen last October, defeated Korean Ji Eun Lee, 6-1 6-1, in the first round of the tournament. In the second round, the Filipina faced tournament sixth seed Sigi Cao of China, who had to retire after tying the first set, 6-6. In the final 16, Tanpoco bucked a late challenge from Indonesia's Simran Kaur Sethi to win, 6-4 7-6(4).

In an email to GMA News Online, Tanpoco's coach Manny Tecson shared his ward's quarterfinals experience:

"In the first four games of the first set, both players were breaking serves but nobody was holding their serves either. I could see that both players where feeling each other out and Maika was a little tentative in her game because she knew who she was playing against."

Sarah Tomic is the 15-year-old sister of world number 52 Bernard Tomic.

"Everything changed after 2-all," said Tecson. "Maika again broke Tomic’s powerful serves to take the lead at 3-2. On the following sixth game with Maika serving, she picked up her level and was able to hold her serve for a 4-2 lead."

"At this point of the match, Sarah was beginning to have problems with Maika’s heavy balls and she was trying desperately to lean in on her shots and play aggressive on Maika," Tecson said. "But Maika was mixing her game very well and was countering the deep balls of Tomic and making Sarah play a lot of balls. The fear and respect that Maika had with Tomic started disappearing and was now replaced by desire to win."

"We had a game plan and a strategy and Maika was sticking to it," Tanpoco's coach added. "Maika won the next two games to take the 1st set 6-2."

"In the second set, Maika kept frustrating Tomic with her game and all of a sudden, Sarah started looping her shots," Tecson recalled. "Now she was in the comfort zone of Maika. Maika was out-rallying her in this department, attacking the short and midcourt balls of Tomic who was running all over the court."

"I knew that once Sarah did this, the match would be over and it will be for Maika. Maika immediately went up 5-1 in the second set and had match points on Tomic’s serve. But again at this level all players have the ability to come back and fight and that’s what Tomic did," Tecson said. "She held her serve after being down two match points and was trying to fight back."

"At 5-2 up with Maika serving for the match, it was a battle, and Tomic was starting to find her timing and rhythm on her groundstrokes," added Tecson. "But Maika was very determined and she was focused to win this match. Tomic did not want to go away, and at deuce, Sarah hit a superb drop shot after a long rally to take advantage."

"Maika was looking a little desperate and panicking," Tecson saw, before demanding more intensity from his player. "She responded with a good first serve to bring it back to deuce. Maika again served well and a long rally occurred with Sarah going for everything and attacking Maika to force her to commit the error but Maika was countering well and was moving her feet well. Maika finally hit a forehand winner to take match point."

"At match point, Maika was looking very intense and once again, she executed a good first serve and another long rally transpired," Tecson added. "I could feel Sarah had enough and when Maika hit a crosscourt forehand making Tomic run wide, Tomic hit the ball at the net."

In the final four, Tanpoco will face tournament number one seed Ziyue Sun. The other semis matchup features an all-Chinese showdown between third seed Xiaodi You and second seed Shilin Xu. - GMA News