RIYADH, Oct. 31, 2000 – The former Saudi national team member, Othman
Al Enezi, playing with a Filipino partner, Joey Samia scored an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over
Sonny Santos and Alvin Ebreo to clinch the class-A doubles crown at the 25th El
Faleh Sports House 25th annual Desert Classic Open Tennis tournament being
played at the hotel Intercontinental recreation center.
 With this, the action in all the
doubles events came to an end. Now in the singles, 162 players would compete in Class-A,
B, C, Under-14 and Under-12 categories in this gala, which is mainly sponsored by El Faleh
Sports House. Other companies supporting are Pepsi, Power Horse Energy Drink, Saudi
Globalstar, SGB Dabal for scaffolding, Promoaction and DDB.
This year, 92 players competed in the doubles events in categories A, B, C and Over-45.
The Saudi national players could not join the double events, as they were busy for the GCC
championship in Bahrain.
Enezi, despite not in his best of form and Samia, had no problem to grab the top-flight
honor in the doubles. In the semifinal, they beat Adam Socor and Jessie Suarez 6-3, 6-4.
Earlier, the losing finalists had to struggle against the strong Saudi pair, Saeed Al
Shabib and Hussam Al Daghfag to triumph 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 in the end.
In Class-B doubles, Santos, trying his luck here as well but with Willy Biay met with
success. Here, they defeated Omar Swaidan and Hussam Al Daghfag 6-2, 6-4 for the title.
Before reaching the final, the new champions down Alvin Ebreo and Nicol Sandigan 6-4, 6-2.
Their opponents eliminated Noli Lagare and Noel Mejia 6-3, 6-4.
The all-Saudi tandem, Rashed Al Falah and Saeed Shabib were crowned the champions of
Class-C doubles. Their victims in the final were Pete Petersen and Larry Barcelona. The
Saudis won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Earlier, in the semifinal, they sailed past easily over their
Indian counterpart, Syed Abrar Ali of the Gulf Cooperation Insurance Company and Faisal
Ziauddin from the Middle East Specialized Cable Company with 7-6, 6-1 score. On the other
side, in their march to the final, Petersen and Barcelona had set aside Muhammed Ali Al
Sheikh and Abdulkader Al Jundi by 6-3, 7-6.
A surprise result was witnessed in the final of the Over-45 doubles category. The
defending champion, Mario Flores and Rene Matute dreams were shattered this time by their
own countrymen. The Filipino pair of Raulito Briones and Leo Malinao defeated them easily
by 6-2, 6-2 to emerge the champions. In their semifinal encounters, the new champions
ousted Nasser Shaye and Jun Cabrera 6-4, 6-1 while Flores and Matute eliminated Rodolfo
Ancheta and Raul Cenidoza 6-3, 6-4.
A total of 162 players would compete in the singles. The categories are Class-A, B, C,
Under-14 and Under-12. Defending champion, Badr Mogayel, the Saudi top star who is the top
seed in Class-A is determined to win the trophy for the fourth time. However, he expects a
forceful challenge from Tawfiq Moafa, Abu Khaleif and Kit Sagnit.
A 15-years old Saudi promising junior, Omar Al Khatib will be player to watch in this top
category. With his fine form, he may stage an upset in the final games. Another talented
Saudi, Abdullah Fawzi, who is presently in the United States to attend advance
professional tennis training will be missing in action here. Great expectations are
expected of him, as he hopes to be a pillar in the game for the Kingdom in years to come.
Flight B singles has the top four seeded players. They are Socor, Al Khatib, Al Shabeeb
and Daghfag. The Flight-C category will see 62 players headed by top seeds Derequito,
Tecson, Abu Rasheed and Swaidan. Interesting and tough battles are on card here. The
Over-45 has Mario Flores as the top seed, followed by Leo Malinao, Soriano and Briones.
In the juniors, top seed Abu Rasheed and his challenger Aamer Javed will face some tough
battles in the Under-14 to maintain their past winning record. In the Under-12, Harris,
Riani, Ramsey and Obaid are ranked first, second, third and fourth respectively. The
Suarez twins and Santos are among the new entries to watch in this category. |
