Tennis in Subic Bay

NEW DELHI, INDIA: 20-year old RP No.1 Davis Cup tennis player and the country's young new hope Patrick John Tierro upset no.3 seed and 1st leg runner-up Manuela Jorquera of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round of the 3rd leg of the ITF/ATP $25,000 Satellite Circuit here to earn a slot in the quarterfinals against Italy's no. 5 seed Federico Torresi who upset ATP ranked no. 300 Alexey Kedriouk of Kazakstan 6-4, 7-5.

Tierro, whose development program for the past 2 years is funded by sportsman Jean Henri Lhuillier of Lhuillier Group of Companies and supported by PHILTA, was leading 6-4, 3-1 40-0 when Jorquera rattled several baseline winners to break back and take the second set 3-6. In the 3rd set, Tierro, the 6-foot-1 product of the Subic Bay ITS Academy under Grand Slammer Beeyong Sison immediately broke the Italian' serve at 2-all winning four straight games closing the match with service winner.

“My serve has become better and more dependable now. I also improved my backhand returns relieving the pressure off my forehand. I could attack more and not get tired”, said Tierro. “My weeks of technical training in Subic and the plyometric program helped me add more dimensions to my game. It's more fun to play.”

After going through grueling qualifying matches during the 2nd and 3rd legs and falling ill during the first leg, the win was a great comeback effort which assures the RP tennis ace at least 3 more ATP ranking points and a spot in next weeks Masters where the top 24 Circuit point earners are selected out of over 100 tour participants from different countries whose ATP world ranking entry range from 300th to 1,400th .

“Congratulations to PJ for pulling this one out. I hope he wins this week's event. This is a good confidence builder for him to start the year”, said sponsor Jean Henri Lhuillier who has committed to support 25-30 weeks of international events PJ will join for 2006.