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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Alcantara resumes title quest; Lhuillier lauds doubles specialist's rise in doubles rankings

Alcantara resumes title quest; Lhuillier lauds doubles specialist's rise in doubles rankings

Published Jan 23, 2024 08:09 am

At A Glance

  • Francis Casey Alcantara continues his chase for a doubles title as he teams up with an old partner this time in the M25 Chennai International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in India this week.

Francis Casey Alcantara continues his chase for a doubles title as he teams up with an old partner this time in the M25 Chennai International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in India this week.

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Francis Casey Alcantara, left, with tennis patron Jean Henri Lhuillier.

Alcantara and his Indonesia partner Christopher Rungkat are actually the top-seeded pair in this $25,000 event and are scheduled to face unseeded Australians Alexey Shtengelov and Bernard Tomic in the opening round.

Alcantara and Rungkat have already joined forces in the past, particularly last year where the duo were able to win two titles -- in the M15 Kuala Lumpur and the M15 Ipoh Perak both in Malaysia.

But the Filipino-Indonesian tandem remains wary of their rivals, as Shtengelov and Tomic appear dangerous despite their lack of history playing as a pair.

Alcantara also hopes to nail the title this time after coming in close in the second leg of the Nonthaburi Challenger in Thailand two weeks ago where he and Chinese partner Sun Fajing made it to the final round.

Meanwhile, Unified Tennis Philippines’ Jean Henri Lhuillier, who is one of Alcantara’s long-time sponsors, lauded Alcantara’s efforts after the latter secured a career-high doubles ranking of No. 176 in the world.

“I am so happy to witness Nino’s (Alcantara) steady-rise in the world rankings. I know how hard he has been training and campaigning for several years now. It was too just too bad that his momentum before was halted by the pandemic, but now that he is able to compete fully, we can expect him to continue rising and hopefully be in the top 100 by end of the year,” said Lhuillier.

Alcantara is actually just continuing where he left off last year after winning his last tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year. He is aiming for an even higher ranking as he competes in four more tournaments in India including this one in Chennai.

“I just want to continue improving my game and hopefully what follows is more improvement in the world rankings. I would like take the opportunity also to all my supporters especially Jean Henri Lhuillier and Cebuana Lhuillier for always being there for me,” said Alcantara.

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Francis Casey Alcantara Jean Henri Lhuillier
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