Maristella Torrecampo
Diminutive Maristella Torrecampo of the Philippines outsmarted Aissata Enkhzaya Adama of Mongolia 6-3, 7-5 to lift the girl’s singles title at the ITF Asia Under-14 Development Championships at the Morodok Tennis Complex.
Maristella, who will not be eligible for the tournament next year, was a silver medallist last year.
Vietnam’s Le Phu Gia added the boy’s singles title to the doubles title he won with Vu Thuan Phong on Friday. Phu Gia defeated Singapore’s Leon Ho Wei Xi 6-3, 6-1 for the boys singles crown.
The match between Maristella and Aissata was punctuated by both players looking to exploit the others weakness. But it was Maristella, who took advantage by pinning Aissata deep at the baseline with her high lobs.
Aissata was stronger when she moved to the front, especially in the second set, but she was frustrated by Maristella’s perfect game-plan.
Aissata had her moments but made mistakes at the crucial instances, making only three of her seven break point chances. In contrast Maristella converted six of her seven chances.
A pumped up Maristella stuck to her guns and came out victorious in a match that lasted close to 100 minutes.
“I never expected to make it to the final and now winning it,” said the 13-year-old from Bicol.
The pocket dynamite added that she had to play defence against Aissata and fight for every point.
“I had to use more lobs to keep her at the back and to not allow her to play her attacking game,” added Maristella.
She is celebrating her victory tonight with a sleepover with some of the international players and recoup before she begins her campaign for a second title in Week Two of the tournament starting on Monday.
Meanwhile, Phu Gia continued to break barriers, beating the second seeded Leon after disposing of the top seeded Singaporean Nicholas Min En Pak in the quarter-finals and third seeded Alexi Luca Rafael Aldemita in the semi-finals.
He and his partner had also beaten Leon-Nicholas for the doubles title on Friday.
RESULTS
Boy’s Singles
Final: Le Phu Gia (Vie) bt Leon Ho Wei Xi (Sgp) 6-3, 6-1
Third Place: Alexi Luca Rafael Aldemita (Phi) Vu Thuan Phong (Vie) 6-3, 3-6, 10-2
Girl’s Singles
Final: Maristella Torrecampo (Phi) bt Aissata Enkhzaya Adama (Mgl) 6-3, 7-5
Third Place: To Binh Nhieh (Vie) bt Nguyen Linh Nhi (Vie) 7-6 (4), 6-0
