Otico stuns big guns, wins Malita Open tennis crown

UNRANKED John Bryan Otico pulled off one of the most stirring triumphs in PPS-PEPP Open Championships, toppling the top two seeds, including No. 2 Jose Maria Pague, 6-4, 6-3, in the finals to clinch the men’s singles crown in the Malita Open in Davao Occidental yesterday.

The 24-year-old Otico earlier ended Johnny Arcilla’s string of Open title romps, outdueling and outlasting the top-ranked veteran Davis Cupper in long rallies on his way to a 6-2, 6-4 reversal in the semis. He then shattered Pague with a key break in the ninth game of the fiercely-fought first set of the finals then sustained his assault with two breaks in the next frame for a 5-1 count at the Malita Tennis Club. Pague did hold serve in the seventh then broke Otico in the next but the Maramag, Bukidnon find, playing out of Loyola Marymount U in Los Angeles, broke back in the ninth to wrap up the victory worth P80,000.

No. 5 Alexei Santos of UST capped the day of the lesser lights as she produced her own stunner in women’s singles, beating top seed Tennielle Madis, 6-3, 6-2, to pocket the top prize of P30,000 in the 10day event also held as part of the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop president/ CEO Bobby Castro.

Otico, a finalist in the recent Manila Open, worked his way into contention with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Eric Tangub following a walkover win in the opening round of the event hosted by Mayor Bradly Bautista.