Francis Casey Alcantara and American partner Evan King came up short in their campaign in the Bangkok Open 2 Challenger after yielding in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Jan. 9, in Thailand.

The unseeded pair rose from an opening-set hiccup but failed to sustain their momentum in the deciding third set to succumb to Japanese tandem Seita Watanabe and Takeru Suzuki, 6-3, 2-6, 10-5, in this Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger 75 event.

A victory for Alcantara and King could have set them up a semifinal tussle with unseeded Daniel Cukierman of Israel and Joshua Paris of Great Britain, but Watanabe and Suzuki continued with their hot charge following a three-set upset victory over German top seeds Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner the other day.

Cukierman and Paris, however, also made their title campaign felt after stunning third seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth of India, 6-2, 6-0.

Prior to Alcantara and King’s loss, the duo survived Indians Niki Kalinyanda Poonacha and Saketh Myeni, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.

Despite the exit, Alcantara remains optimistic as he is scheduled in another Challenger 75 event in Bangkok from Jan. 13 to 19, followed by a series of Challenger 100 tournaments in Chennai, Bahrain, New Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru in the coming weeks.

At press time, the country’s top doubles player is ranked No. 227 in the ATP doubles.