NEXT ROUND. Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara, shown in a 2018 file photo, made it to the semifinal round of the men's doubles with Coleman Wong of Hong Kong at the Medco Energi International Tennis Championships Week 1 at the Sultan Hotel outdoor hard court in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday (Oct. 27, 2022). Alcantara is expected to lead the Philippine tennis team in the Cambodia SEA Games and Hangzhou Asian Games next year. (Contributed photo)
MANILA – No. 3 seeds Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Coleman Wong of Hong Kong rallied past Nam Hoang Ly and Minh Tuan Pham of Vietnam, 6-4, 2-6, 10-5, to reach the men's doubles semifinal round in the Medco Energi International Tennis Championships Week 1 at the Sultan Hotel outdoor hard court in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.
Alcantara and Wong will face top seeds Thomas Fancutt and Brandon Walkin of Australia, who hammered out a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ulsung Park and Ji Hoon Son of South Korea, at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Meanwhile, No. 2 seeds Fajing Sun of China and Seita Watanabe of Japan and fourth seeds Nathan Anthony Barki and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia hurdled their respective rivals to arrange a Final Four showdown in the USD25,000 event.
Sun and Watanabe prevailed over Congsup Congcar of Thailand and Arthur Weber of France, 6-3, 6-3, while Barki and Rungkat clobbered Yuttana Charoenphon and Kasidit Samrej of Thailand, 6-1, 6-1.
"One match at a time. Our opponents in the semis are good so we'll just focus on the match," the 30-year-old Alcantara said on Friday.
Alcantara, who was born and raised in Cagayan de Oro City, is eyeing his fourth doubles title this year, is currently No. 286 in the world. His career-best was No. 257 in 2018.
He bagged his third doubles with Pruchya Isaro of Thailand at the Hai Dang Cup Week 1 in Tay Ninh City, Vietnam three weeks ago. His other titles this year were the Hai Dang Cup Week 2 with Nam Hoang Ly and the ITF World Tennis Tour event in Cairo, Egypt with Colin Sinclair of Northern Marianas Island.
Last month, Alcantara and Rungkat were runners-up in two USD50,000 events of the ATP Tour Challenger in Nonthaburi City, Thailand. They reached the semifinal round of the 2016 ITF Futures 2, a USD10,000 event held in Hong Kong.
Alcantara is expected to lead the Philippine tennis team in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games (SEA) and Hangzhou Asian Games next year. In the 2019 Manila SEA Games, he and Jeson Patrombon won the doubles title.
Alcantara became a member of the Davis Cup team in 2005. He is the first Filipino junior Grand Slam champion, achieving the feat when he won the Australian Open doubles title with Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in 2009, the same year he reached his highest ranking of world No. 14. (PNA)
