RP netters suffer mixed fate at Roehampton

Filipino junior netters Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon recorded contrasting results in their campaign in the AEGON Junior International-Roehamption 2010 boys' doubles event. Alcantara advanced to the quarterfinals while Patrombon ended his campaign at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Grade I event with a Round of 16 loss at the grass courts of The Bank of England Sports Centre. The 18-year-old Alcantara, whose victory in the 2009 Australian Open Junior Championships is his major achievement in a doubles event to date, and British partner Oliver Golding came back from an opening set loss to score a 4-6, 6-3, [10-5] upset win over the eight seeded Slovakian pair of Filip Horansky and Jozef Kovalik. Alcantara, who reached his highest ITF junior world ranking at 14th, won the Aussie Open boys’ doubles crown with Chinese-Taipei’s Hsieh Cheng-peng as his partner. Alcantara and Hsieh, who did not drop a set in the tournament, defeated Russia’s Mikhail Biryukov and Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals. Alcantara’s partnership with Filipino-American Raymond Sarmiento also produced a doubles title when they topped the 21st Mitsubishi Lancer International Tennis Championships in Manila. The unseeded pair of Alcantara, who is in his last season in the ITF Junior Tour, and Golding will have their hands full when they face the second ranked tandem of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur and Croatian Mate Pavic with the winner earning a semifinals berth. Dzumhur and Pavic earned a place in the Last 8 after a 6-3, 6-3 victory against the pair of Colombia’s Sebastian Lopez and Brazil’s Thiago Moura Monteiro. Alcantara is currently ranked 60th in the world with 387.5 points and has so far earned 77.5 points in doubles play. He became the lone Filipino netter competing at Roehampton after compatriot Patrombon, the country’s current top junior player, and teammate Barrett Franks of New Zealand were shown the exit door by British wild card bets Lim Broady and Tom Farquharson, 6-3, 6-0. Broady and Farquharson, who eliminated top seeds Duilio Beretta of Peru and Ecuador’s Roberto Quiroz in the first round, will have the unseeded pair of Ireland’s Sam Barry and New Zealand’s Sam McLachlan as their next opponent with both teams aiming for a spot in the Final Four. Patrombon, 17, is at 37th place in the ITF junior rankings with 455 points, 400 of which came in the singles event. With his early exit, Patrombon will have more time to prepare for the Wimbledon Juniors Open where he and Alcantara are entered in the main draw. The Wimbledon Juniors will be held from June 26 to July 4. – JVP/OMG, GMANews.TV