Patrombon's bid for second title ends in Korea

Filipino junior tennis ace Jeson Patrombon's bid for a second title this year ended in Korea when he suffered a 3-6, 5-7 semifinal loss to Australian Ben Wagland in the Seogwipo Asia-Oceania Closed Championships held at Jeju-do. Before eliminating the second-seeded Patrombon, the No. 3 Wagland came off a 6-3, 7-6 (5) quarterfinal win over 10th seed Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand. Patrombon reached the semis after a hard-earned 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over local bet Jae Hwan Kim in the Last 8. Kim was the second Korean that Patrombon faced in the tournament. The 17-year-old Iligan City native showed steady nerves and played aggressively against his power-hitting rival in the three-hour long match. Patrombon and doubles partner Jadin Grinter of New Zealand were eliminated earlier by the unseeded Chinese pair of Zhaoyi Cao and Liu Xing Bang, 4-6, 4-6. With his semis singles loss to Waglanf, Patrombon thus formally ended his campaign in Korea, However, he earned the needed points to remain on track to earning a possible Top 20 finish in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings by the end of the year. Patrombon will next compete in a pair of Grade I events, the Yucatan Open World Series from November 22 to 27 in Merida, Mexico, and the Eddie Herr International Juniors event in Florida from November 9 to December 5. These will be the last tournaments for Patrombon this year. He will be competing in the singles and doubles events. Grinter will again be his doubles partner. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV