Aludo beats Indonesian foe, rules Hilado netfest

National team mainstay Stefi Marithe Aludo defeated third seed Gwen Emily Kurniawan of Indonesia, 6-1, 6-3, in the girls’ singles of the Oscar J. Hilado J60 World Tennis Championship Week 2 on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Aludo, a bronze medalist in doubles and team events at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, needs two more wins in Group C of the round-robin preliminaries to advance to the quarterfinals.

“I’m happy to win my first match; hopefully, I’ll make it to the next round,” said Aludo, an incoming college freshman at the University of Hawaii.

She lost to Korean Yerin Lee in the first leg quarterfinals, but won the doubles title with Philippine Tennis Academy teammate Louraine Jallorina.

Meanwhile, local Mikaela Rose Ngu also won her Group C match against qualifier Krissana Rodprasert of Thailand, 6-0, 6-2.

In Group E, local Jana Jelena Nicole Diaz downed American Sofia Bartolata, 6-0, 6-3, and fifth seed Kimika Fukui of Japan outplayed local Kathlyn Ann Bugna, 6-2, 7-5, in the event offering World Tennis (formerly International Tennis Federation) points.

Now in its 18th edition, the annual tournament is renamed in honor of the late PHINMA Corp. chairman emeritus Oscar J. Hilado in recognition of his lifelong support for and contributions to Philippine tennis.

Past champions include Alexandra Eala, Francis Casey Alcantara, John Bryan Otico, Arthur Craig Pantino, Khim Iglupas, Tennielle Madis and Aludo.