Cebuano Junior Netter Pantino Earns Semis Berth in Vietnam

Cebuano junior netter Arthur Craig Pantino stamped his Vietnamese rival on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinal round of the ITF Junior Becamex Cup singles competition in Vietnam.

Pantino, the tournament’s top seed, scored a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Tienthinh Tran in their second-round match at the Community Sport Center in Thu Dau Mot City.

Pantino’s next match is against Taiwanese Ke Chen Tseng, who eliminated No. 8 Malaysian Jian Keong Takeshi Koey, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Joining Pantino in the quarterfinal round were No. 2 Pengyu Lu and No. 7 Zicheng Zheng of China; No. 3 Yi Jui Lo and No. 6 Hsiang-Yu Chuang of Chinese Taipei; No. 4 Siddharth Thakran of India; and No. 5 Phuong Van Nguyen of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Pantino and compatriot Justin Suarez downed Indian tandem Rishikrishna Ayyappan and Arjun Mahadevan, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the doubles quarterfinal.

Pantino and Suarez will be up against third seeds Hsiang-Yu Chuang and Ke Chen Tseng, who defeated Vietnamese Tienthinh Tran and Thai Nguyen Tat, 6-0, 6-2.

Filipino Matthew Garcia and Indian partner Adarsh Naga Tippabhatla, on the other hand, failed to advance after absorbing a 6-7 (9), 7-6 (5) [6-10] lose to wild cards Trung Tinh Le and Tu Le Khanh Duy of Vietnam.

Pantino, who is currently No. 266 in the world’s juniors rankings, reached the quarterfinal round of another junior tournament in Ho Chi Minh City last week.

This year, Pantino has played in three tournaments in India, three in Thailand and one in China. (Jean T. Malanum/PNA)