By Jean T. Malanum
MANILA, March 1 (PNA) — The Philippines scored a 3-0 victory over Iraq to sweep its Group A assignments in the ongoing World Juniors Tennis Championship Pre-Qualifying event in New Delhi, India.
Maria Carmencita Carlos, a Grade 6 student at Keys School Manila, prevailed over Zalal Khalil, 6-0, 6-0 in the first singles; Alexandra Eala demolished Lava Rasul, 6-0, 6-0, in the second singles; while Eala and Amanda Gabrielle Zoleta clobbered Nabba Al-Luhaibi and Rasul, 6-0, 6-0, in the doubles of the best-of-three tie held at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Nepal thrashed Lebanon, 3-0, and Jordan defeated Singapore, 2-1, in Group B.
Abhilasha Bista conquered Laetitia Rizk, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5; Prerana Koirala outclassed Maria Breidy, 6-1, 6-2, while Bista and Koirala walked over Rizk and Breidy in the doubles as Nepal won its first tie after losing to Jordan last Monday.
Singapore took a 1-0 lead after Clare Cheng pulled off a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Randa Al-Qudsi in the first singles match.
But Jordan claimed the second singles when Jana Al-Khatib outplayed Trisha Mulani, 6-2, 6-4, while Haya Joudeh and Al-Khatib downed Cheng and Mulani, 6-3, 6-1, in the doubles to keep the Group B lead with a 2-0 win-loss record.
Nepal and Singapore have identical 1-2 win-loss records, while Lebanon has a 0-2 card.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the next round, which will determine the first to fourth placers. The three other teams will play another round-robin to decide the fifth to seventh placers.
The two best-performing teams will join Australia and New Zealand in the Final Qualifying slated March 20 to April 1 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The top two teams after the Final Qualifying will play in the World Group Finals that will take place in Prostejov, Czech Republic.
