Filipino-American ace Christopher Papa and 18-year-old sensation Tennielle Madis completed a wondrous week after winning the men’s and women’s singles titles in the Palawan Open 2026 before a roaring crowd at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Sunday, May 31.
The fourth-seeded Papa outlasted PH No. 1 player Alberto Lim, Jr. in a thrilling duel, 6-4, 6-4, a feat that impressed sports officials but left many of Lim’s supporters very sad.
Lim was indestructible for months in the local scene before Papa came and handed the 4-time PCA champion a rare defeat. The title win was worth P300,000 for Papa.
While the scoreline suggests a routine victory, the match was tight, tense and dramatic, with Papa breaking the crowd-favorite Lim exactly once in each set.
On the women’s side, Madis reasserted her mastery over Marian Capadocia, securing a 6-2, 7-6 victory that was nothing short of a psychological thriller.
The P100,000 victory marked Madis’ second consecutive triumph over Capadocia, just weeks after toppling her in the semifinal round on her way to victory in the Philta National Open.
Papa’s path to the finals of the event, sponsored by the Palawan Group of Companies, sanctioned by Philta and the Universal Tennis Ranking (UTR), was forged in fire.
He punched his ticket to the championship by staging a stirring reversal of top-seed Digvijay Singh of India, surviving a grueling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) semifinal thriller.
The singles triumph came less than 24 hours after Papa partnered with doubles specialist Casey Alcantara to thwart Eric Jed Olivarez and Nilo Ledama for the men’s doubles crown on Saturday.
Riding the momentum of a near-flawless 6-0, 6-1 semis demolition of Kaye-Ann Emana, the pride of Mlang, Cotabato survived an early break-for-break exchange with Capadocia. She held serve in the fifth, broke in the sixth, and escaped an extended, grueling eighth-game showdown to pocket the first set, 6-2.
The second frame was pure theater. Madis surrendered a 3-1 lead, falling behind 3-4. She roared back to reclaim a 5-4 advantage, only for the resilient Capadocia to break back in the 11th game to lead 6-5.
With the match slipping away, Madis regrouped to force a tiebreaker. Standing on the precipice of a third set, the teenager relied on her relentless baseline game, superb returns and sharp instincts, unleashing clutch winners to close out the match in style.
Matching Papa’s heroic weekend, Madis also claimed the women’s doubles crown earlier in the tournament, partnering with Stefi Aludo to dismantle sisters Kaye-Ann and Mica Emana, 6-0, 6-2.
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