MPPT Invitational: Alfonso Siklab Ends Parañaque Titans’ Reign, Wins Leg 3 Title Over Rizal Ilustrados
The Parañaque Titans had won Leg 1 and Leg 2 of the Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour (MPPT) Invitational and arrived at Melmac Sports in Cavite as the team to beat. By Sunday evening, though, it was the Alfonso Siklab holding the Leg 3 title. They had come through a Championship Sunday that included a tiebreaker, a score reversal, and a handful of surprises.
Leg 3 ran from 7 to 8 November at Melmac Sports, Vista Mall Imus in Imus City, Cavite, following Leg 1 in Pampanga and Leg 2 in Tagaytay City. Live coverage, as always, was available on Solar Sports and iWant.
Group Stage: A Quiet Third for Alfonso Siklab
Alfonso Siklab didn’t dominate on Super Saturday. In Group B, they finished third at 10-5 (35 points), behind the Parañaque Titans (12-3, 39 points) and GenSan Punchers (11-4, 37 points). That was good enough for the quarterfinals, along with the Rizal Illustrados in fourth.
Group A was led by the Abra River Paddlers (14-1, 43 points), followed by Bangued Miki, Tacloban Aces, and Bacoor City Strikers. The Batangas Bangers, Muntinlupa Smashers, Pampanga Chiefs and Camarines Norte Golden Hawks missed out.
Alfonso Eases Past Bangued
In the quarterfinals, Siklab made short work of the Miki, winning 3-0 (11-9 in men’s, 11-7 in women’s, and 11-7 in mixed 1). It wasn’t a blowout, but it was clean.
The Titans were more dominant, beating the Strikers 3-0 with scores of 11-1, 11-8 and 11-4, and putting themselves in position to chase a third title in a row.
Semis Showcase
Those results in the quarterfinals set up the match of the day between Alfonso and Parañaque. And it lived up to the billing, with the Siklab outlasting the Titans 3-2 in a tiebreaker:
- Men’s Doubles: Parañaque 11-5
- Women’s Doubles: Alfonso 11-5
- Mixed 1: Parañaque 11-4
- Mixed 2: Alfonso 11-7
- Tiebreaker: Alfonso 25-18
Down two matches to one, Alfonso levelled with a win in Mixed Doubles 2, then pulled away in the tiebreaker to end the Titans’ run. Parañaque’s winning streak across the tour ended in the process and made sure Leg 3 will crown a different champion.
In the other semis bracket, the Rizal Illustrados outclassed the Tacloban Aces 3-1. Tacloban took Men’s Doubles 11-2, but Rizal fought back with an 11-9 win in Women’s Doubles and two close ones, 12-10 in Mixed 1 and 11-9 in Mixed 2.
Alfonso Siklab Go All the Way
Perhaps emboldened by their courageous triumph over the two-leg champions from Parañaque, the Siklab won the first game of the finals, an 11-7 show of force in Men’s Doubles. The Ilustrados didn’t back down, netting an 11-6 win in Women’s Doubles to level the count at 1-1. Anticipation only grew from there as, for the first time in the Invitationals, a new champion would emerge. The only question was who.
The Alfonso Siklab answered it emphatically, winning Mixed 1, 11-2, before clinching the Leg 3 title with an 11-3 triumph in Mixed 2 for a 3-1 victory. The title caps a tournament that started modestly for the Alfonso Siklab and ended with the biggest win of the three legs so far.
