Pantino reaches 3rd round in Malaysia ITF Juniors event

Filipino Junior Tennis Player Arthur Craig Pantino (Photo: Arthur Craig Pantino/Facebook)

MANILA — Third seed Arthur Craig Pantino survived a tough first set to secure a third-round berth in the boys’ singles division of the 1st Perlis International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Championship in Malaysia.

According to the tournament results on the ITF Juniors website on Wednesday, Pantino defeated Japanese Hiroki Fujita, 7-6 (4), 6-1 in their second-round match at the Tuanku Syed Putra Tennis Complex hard court.

The 16-year-old native of Cebu City will be up against No. 15 Chinese Zhao Run Yu, who won over Swedish Oliver Anderson, 6-2, 6-4.

Fellow Filipino Michael Francis Eala took an early exit when he was eliminated in the second round by Norwegian Herman Jentoft, 2-6, 0-6.

Meanwhile, Eala and Swedish partner Marlon Magkoutas downed Malaysians Joe Chong Zhao Jo and Lin En Tan, 6-2, 6-2, to earn a second-round seat in the boys’ doubles category.

Eala and Magkoutas will be facing Pantino and Kazakhstan’s Beibit Zhukayev, who had a first-round bye.

In the girls’ singles competition, Melanie Faye Dizon lost to second seed Carol Youngsuh of North Mariana Islands, 2-6, 0-6, in the second round while Rafaella Jean Villanueva was beaten by Japanese Nanami Okamoto, 1-6, 2-6, in the first round.

Dizon has remained in the tournament, teaming up with Malaysian Nurshameem Shamsuddin to pull off a 1-6, 6-3 [16-14] victory over third seeds Che Yujiao of China and Sim Chae Hyun of Korea in the first round.

Dizon and Shamsuddin will face siblings Elsa and Elysia Wan of Malaysia in the second round.

The Malaysians prevailed over Taiwanese pair Chen Jou-Chen and Hou Ya-Jo, 3-6, 6-1 [11-9] in the first round.

The fourth-seeded pair of Villanueva and Indian Annika Kannan, on the other hand, failed to advance to the next round after absorbing a 3-6, 3-6 setback from Thailand’s Kittika Aeb-iem and Lanlana Tararudee in the first round.