Australian Open: Playing in pain, Patrombon survives local boy

Top Filipino junior netter Jeson Patrombon overcame pain caused by blisters in his hands and feet, outlasting local bet Jordan Thompson, 6-4, 7-6 (5) Saturday at the start of the Australian Open Juniors Championship in Melbourne, Australia. Suffering from blisters brought about by the extreme heat, the 17-year-old Filipino netter bucked the challenge of Thompson and the local crowd supporting him. But Patrombon preserved his A-grade game and proved to be the steadier player, especially during the tiebreak. With the score tied at 5-all, Patrombon fired an ace to get the momentum back. He then engaged Thompson in long rallies before the eighth-seeded Filipino player won the much-needed point to end the match. “Today, I’m very proud of Jeson because he responded very well. He was in pain and was also up against the Australian crowd, but he never gave up and kept on fighting," said coach Manny Tecson. Patrombon will advance to the round-of-32 and will meet the winner of the match between No. 6 seed Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain and Patrick Ofner of Austria. So tough is the field that seeded players like No.5 Joris De Loore bowed to unseeded Mitchell Krueger of USA, 6-7(4), 6-7 (4), while 12th seed Dimitri Bretting of Switzerland got booted out by low-ranked rival Jaden Grinter of New Zealand. Grinter is Patrombon’s doubles partner, and the two will also be playing together in this Grandslam event. “At this level, anybody can beat anyone because only a few points separate the players," added Tecson. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV