PH netters advance to Junior Fed Cup semis

Amanda Gabrielle Zoleta during the opening ceremony of the Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of Czarina Mae Arevalo)

MANILA — The Philippines stamped its class over Lebanon, 3-0, on Thursday to reach the semifinal round of the Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying tournament at the Sri Lanka Tennis Center in Colombo.

Ma. Patricia Lim defeated Laetitia Rizk, 7-5, 6-1, in the first singles; Angelica Alcala outplayed Anna Marie Hayek, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, in the second singles; while Lim and Amanda Gabrielle Zoleta downed Rizk and Myriam Massoud, 6-1, 6-3, in the doubles.

The Philippines’ next match will be against top seed Sri Lanka. Singapore, which scored a 3-0 victory over Vietnam, will face Mongolia.

Both Sri Lanka and Mongolia earned outright semis berths.

The top three teams will advance to the final qualifying tournament to be held from April 16 to 21 in Kuching, Sarawak in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the Philippine boys’ team of Michael Francis Eala II, Jose Antonio Tria, and Matthew Anton Garcia will compete in the Junior Davis Cup final qualifying event from April 9-14, also in Kuching.

The final qualifying events in Sarawak will select the teams which will advance to the Junior Davis and Fed Cup Finals in Budapest, Hungary in September.

Last week, Colombo City also hosted the pre-qualifying of the Under-14 World Juniors Tennis Championships Asia/Oceania Zonal competition.

Sri Lanka, Qatar, Lebanon, and Malaysia all made it to the final qualifying event to be held in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Sri Lanka and Qatar will see action in the boys division from March 26 to 31 while Lebanon and Malaysia will compete in the girls division from April 2 to 7.

The winners of the final qualifying will advance to the ITF World Junior Tennis Championships Finals slated August 6 to 11 in Prostejov, Czech Republic.