Alcantara gains quarters but 4 other RP bets lose

MANILA, Philippines - Top seed Francis Casey Alcantara, enjoying top form, put away Italy’s No. 2 Antonio Marcarelli, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Phinma Juniors International’s Week 1 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Coming off an equally emphatic 6-2, 6-2 rout of Chinese Jan Nan Tao in the first round, the 17-year-old Alcantara played just good enough to topple Marcarelli and cruise to the Last 8 of the boys side of the ITF Grade 4 tournament.

He will meet the winner of the No. 5 Motoaki Kita of Japan and Thailand’s Kittipong Chienwichai duel still being played at presstime.

But while Alcantara progressed, the four other Filipino bets who hurdled their first round assignments Wednesday absorbed straight-set setbacks from their respective rivals and crashed out of the tournament sponsored by the Phinma Group of Companies.

Anna Clarice Patrimonio, impressive with her 7-5, 6-2 win over Japanese qualifier Sari Baba in the first round, succumbed to sixth seed Trang Huynh Phuong Dai of Vietnam, 2-6, 3-6, while sister Anna Christine, who scrambled past Japanese Riko Sawayanagi, 6-3, 7-5, Wednesday, dropped a 4-6, 0-6 loss to No. 7 Ran Tian of China in the distaff side.

The Patrimonio siblings’ setback ended the RP girls campaign in the first of two international tournaments lined up by Phinma and backed by Tecnifibre Balls, Powerade, Viva Mineral Water, Century Park Hotel and the Philippine Sports Commission.

The two other RP bets who dropped out of competition were Leander Lazaro and Kim Ivor Saraza.