San jose del monte: University of the Philippines (UP) forced a rubber match in the Season 88 men's tennis finals after edging University of Santo Tomas (UST), 3-2, in Game 2 Saturday at Colegio San Agustin in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. The winner-take-all Game 3 is scheduled Sunday at 7:30 a.m.

According to Philippines News Agency, Carl Tan and Andrei Jarata saved the day for the Fighting Maroons, winning over Steven Sonsona and Al-Zayeed Baid, 7-5, 6-1. "What the coach told us was, just be better because in Game 1, it really felt like [we] hadn't found our groove yet ... we even made a comeback earlier," Tan said. "Just working hard in each game. We don't think about other matches if they lose because in our first doubles, we were 7-2 in the super tiebreak and then they caught up. But we, we were just really locked in on our game."

UST initially raced to a 2-0 lead after Christopher Sonsona downed Heinz Carbonilla, 6-0, 6-2, and Ericjay Tangub defeated Lance Fernandez, 7-6(2), 6-0. But UP fought back behind Loucas Fernandez, who prevailed over Evan Bacalso, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2, and doubles pair Miguel Iglupas and Raymund Goco, who scored a 4-6, 6-2, 11-9 victory over Richard Bautista and Nash Agustines to level the best-of-five tie at 2-2.

"Today, we were probably more courageous than on Wednesday (Game 1). The last set, there was more pressure because we were down, 2-7, and then my partner was down too. So I was like, I have to lift him or push him to fight and catch up with the score. I just believed in myself and my partner that we can do it until the end," Iglupas said.

UST, seeking its 17th title, demolished UP, 3-0, in Game 1, setting the stage for an intense Game 3 showdown.