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Alcantara, partner barge into semis of Nonthaburi Challenger

Sports

Alcantara, partner barge into semis of Nonthaburi Challenger

By Kristel Satumbaga-Villar

At A Glance

Francis Casey Alcantara and Sun Fajing stunned their seeded rivals to march into the men's doubles semifinal of the Bangkok Open 2 ATP Challenger in Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 11.

Francis Casey Alcantara and Sun Fajing stunned their seeded rivals to march into the men’s doubles semifinal of the Bangkok Open 2 ATP Challenger in Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 11.

Francis Casey Alcantara and Chinese partner Sun Fajing inch closer to the doubles crown. (File Photo/Francis Casey Alcantara Facebook)

The unseeded Filipino-Chinese pair unleashed their assault with strong shots to shock fourth seed Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and Nam Jisung of South Korea, 6-1, 6-2, in this $80,000 event.

Alcantara and Sun actually needed only 52 minutes in disposing of their rivals, saving four break points throughout the match.

The win set up Alcantara and Sun a semis date with alternates Giovanni Fonio and Salvatore Caruso of Italy, who also made heads turn by shocking Indian second seeds Saketh Myeni and Ramkumar Ramanathan, 6-3, 6-2.

Both pairs have never played each other in any ATP events, but Alcantara and Sun appeared to be favored on paper with their respective doubles rankings of No. 199 and 204. Fonio and Caruso, meanwhile, are ranked No. 416 and No. 1017.

The other semis pairing pit top seeds Luke Johnson of Great Britain and Skander Mansouri of Tunisia against British duo Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris.

Johnson and Mansouri dumped Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia, 6-1, 6-4, while Fery and Paris routed Nicholas Ionel of Romania and Kai Wehnelt of Germany with a similar 6-1, 6-4 score.

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Francis Casey Alcantara

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