By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alberto Lim held his ground in a tight opening set battle to complete a remarkable 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Australian Joshua Charlton and punch his ticket to the quarterfinal round of the ITF World Tennis Tour in Maanshan, China Thursday, June 18.
After a nip-and-tuck affair, the 27-year-old Lim found another gear in the tiebreaker to prevail to escape with the win. He then used an extra motivation to dominate the second set.
With the win, Lim sets up a quarterfinal duel against Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong.
Leong, for his part, bested Japan’s Shintaro Imai, 6-3, 7-6(5) in the second round.
Lim’s win over Charlton was a fitting sequel to his stunning triumph against top seed Kasidit Samrej of Thailand.
The reigning PCA Open champion advanced to the main draw after hurdling the three qualifying rounds.
