The best and brightest of local tennis are slugging it out in the Philta Men’s Masters Top 8 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center, with pride, prize money and positioning in the national pecking order all on the line.
At the center of it all is Alberto Lim Jr.
Lim enters the Masters determined to firmly re-stake his claim as the country’s premier player.
A many-time national team mainstay, he has long been the standard-bearer of Philippine men’s tennis. But in a compact, unforgiving Top 8 format, reputation alone guarantees nothing.
Lim opened his campaign against Noel Salupado Wednesday night before facing John Kendrick Bona Thursday and Nilo Ledama at 6 p.m. on Friday in group play.
Eric Jed Olivarez, Nilo Ledama, Vicente Anasta, Bona, Ronard Joven, Salupado and Fritz Verdad all arrive with both credentials and hunger.
Olivarez, hoping to build momentum early, took on Verdad before squaring off with Joven and Anasta. A strong start could tilt the balance in a group where margins are razor-thin.
Under the tournament format, the eight players are divided into two groups, each playing a single round robin. The top two from each pool advance to crossover semifinals, with the winners disputing the championship and the top P160,000 purse in a winner-take-all finale.
The event is staged under the Philippine Tennis Association’s Tennis Transforms program in cooperation with Universal Tennis and the Palawan Pawnshop Group of Companies.
The runner-up will receive P80,000, while the third and fourth placers earn P50,000 and P30,000, respectively. The remaining four players will each take home P20,000.
Beyond the Masters, the tournament also forms part of the Palawan Pawnshop season-long circuit led by president/CEO Bobby Castro – a sweeping grassroots-to-elite program that includes 60 junior legs, 12 Open Championships, 84 free community grassroots initiatives, and 240 classified club-level events nationwide.
But for now, the focus is fixed squarely on center court
Lim, rivals clash in rare primetime duel for Masters tennis crown
