Alcantara captures 2nd straight crown
Francis Casey Alcantara beat Belgium’s Jeroen Vanneste, 6-2, 6-3, to complete a back-to-back title romp in the Phinma International Juniors at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila.
After easily yielding the first point of the match, the 17-year-old netter fended off several challenges by the Belgian before taking complete control in the latter part of the second set to win the crown after 80 minutes.
It was the second straight week that Alcantara, currently ranked No. 56 in the world by the International Tennis Federation, ruled this Grade 4 tournament after pocketing the Week 1 event following a 7-5, 6-0 win over Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the final.
Alcantara gained an additional 40 points to his ITF rankings for edging out the 589th-ranked Vanneste. He also gained the similar amount of points last week for his win over Nishioka.
In the distaff side, Chinese Tian Ran also made it two-in-a-row in the girls’ singles event by repulsing top seed and compatriot Lin Zhu, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.
Both finalists later teamed up in bringing down the Japanese duo of Mami Adachi and Yuki Ito, 6-3, 3-6 (10-3), to win the girls’ doubles event.
American Romar Hernadez and Chinese Xing Bang Liu, on the other hand, took the boys’ doubles championship by trouncing local bets Leander Lazaro and Kim Ivor Saraza, 3-6, 6-1, 10-7.




