MANILA – No. 2 seed Joewyn Rey Pascua of the Philippines got past five Vietnamese players last week to win the championship at the J5 Tay Ninh City tournament in Vietnam.

“My 1st ITF singles title!!! Thank you, Vietnam! It was a great week. Thank you to everyone who has been very supportive,” the 16-year-old wrote on Facebook.

“Special thanks to the Philippine Tennis Academy (PTA) for believing in me,” the junior player added.

In the final on Sunday, Pascua saw off a comeback attempt by No. 4 seed Quang Vinh Nguyen to post a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory.

He kicked off his singles run by overcoming Minh Phat Nguyen, 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 in the first round, and beating Hoang Anh Bui, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round.

He went on to take out No. 7 seed Pham La Hoang Anh in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 2-6, 10-4, and ousted No. 3 seed Dai Khanh Nguyen in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-3.

In the doubles draw, Pascua teamed up with fellow Filipino Axl Lajon Gonzaga, 17, for a runner-up finish against No. 4 seeds Minh Phat Nguyen and Quang Vinh Nguyen of Vietnam, 3-6, 6-7(1).

No. 2 seeds Pascua and Gonzaga were coming off winning back-to-back boys’ doubles titles in June at the Detec International Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

On their way to the final, the Filipino duo saw off Indians Fateh Singh and Arnav Yadav, 7-6(4), 6-0, in the first round.

They proceeded to defeat two Vietnamese pairs: wildcards Kiet Le and Huy Nguyen Ngoc in the quarters, 6-3, 6-1, and Kiet Doan Ngo Ba and Dai Khanh Nguyen in the semis, 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga lost in the singles first round to No. 5 seed Chun Tang of Chinese Taipei, 1-6, 6-1, 5-10.

Another Filipino in the draw was 16-year-old Heinz Aslan Carbonilla, who took out No. 1 seed Jihoon Kang of South Korea in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2, then lost to No. 4 seed Quang Vinh Nguyen in the semifinals, 1-6, 0-6.

Carbonilla and Yu-Lun Chen of Chinese Taipei yielded their first-round doubles match via walkover to Le and Nguyen Ngoc.

The three Filipino teens also competed last month in the first leg of the J5 Tay Ninh City event, where their campaigns were ended by the Vietnamese.

No. 2 seed Pascua suffered an upset in the quarterfinals against unseeded Tran Quoc Cuong, 2-6, 3-6.

Gonzaga received a 0-6, 4-6 second-round loss from No. 7 seed Anh, and Carbonilla fell to No. 4 seed Quang Vinh Nguyen, 1-6, 2-6, in the second round.

In the doubles tournament, No. 3 seeds Pascua and Gonzaga first defeated Dhanush Varma Pericherla and V Dhiraj Reddy Vennapusa of India, 6-2, 6-2, then ousted Chen and Tang of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3.

Pascua and Gonzaga crashed out in the semifinals, 5-7, 4-6, against No. 2 seeds Dai Khanh Nguyen and Quang Vinh Nguyen.

The home bets were the eventual champions, and they began their successful run by eliminating Carbonilla and Howard Chan of Hong Kong in the first round, 6-1, 6-2.

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