Alcantara trims Indian ace; other Pinoys crumble

MANILA, Philippines - Australian Open juniors doubles titlist Francis Casey Alcantara unleashed his power game against fancied fifth seed Vinayak Sharma Kaza of India and eked out a 6-2, 7-6 (3) shocker to advance to the second round of the 34th Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open-Cebuana Lhuillier ITF Men’s Futures 2 yesterday at the PCA clay courts in Paco, Manila.

In a match that took one hour, 16 minutes, the 23-year-old Alcantara came out with guns blazing in the first set and remained in control throughout with a steady game spiked by five aces as the Indian fought vainly to turn the tide.

“I know his game. I lost my focus briefly when he broke me in the second set, but I kept my composure until he also made some unforced errors which I converted to the win,” said Alcantara, who also made it to the second round of the ITF Men’s Futures 1 last week.

Alcantara will duel Liang Wen-Chun of Chinese-Taipei, who prevailed over Ren Nakamura of Japan, 6-2, 7-5.

The win kept afloat Filipino fans’ hopes in the tough singles after local big guns Elbert Anasta and Bryan Otico suffered disappointing losses to Japanese rivals.

Anasta fell short against sixth seed Makoto Ochi, 7-6 (6), 6-2, while Otico couldn’t find a way to get past Soichiro Moritani, 6-2, 6-4.

Anasta and Otico joined Patrick John Tierro and Rolando Ruel, who also fell by the wayside Tuesday.

It was a double victory for Alcantara, who, along with his formidable partner Johnny Arcilla, managed to outclass Jeson Patrombon and Yu Cheng-Yu of Chinese-Taipei, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals.

The event is supported by Whirlpool/Fujidenzo, Broadway Motor Sales Corp., Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines, Tyrecorp Inc, Pearl Garden Hotel, Metro Global Holdings Corp., Avida, PVL Restaurant, Mary Grace Foods, Inc., Seno Hardware and Wire Rope Corp. and supported by Cebuana Lhuillier, Puma, Dunlop, The Philippine STAR, Head, Babolat, Compass/IMOSTI and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.

“I’m happy that our players are gaining valuable experience here. Everyone needs to experience this stiff competition to know what areas of their game they need to improve. Jeson Patrombon looked good in his win and I hope he would go deep into the tournament,” said Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier.

“The Arcilla-Alcantara tandem is doing really well in doubles competition for the second straight week. This experience will stand them in good stead in our Davis Cup campaign next year.”

The explosive Alcantara-Arcilla tandem awaits the winners in the doubles match between Anasta-Tierro and Kaza-Kunal Anand of India.

At stake is $15,000 with the champion getting $2,160 and runner-up $1,272.

In other results, third seed Kento Takeuchi of Japan demolished Lin Hsin of Chinese-Taiepi, 6-4, 6-0, while No. 8 Yu Cheng-Yu of Chinese-Taipei overwhelmed compatriot Lin Wei-De, 6-3, 6-3.