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Francis Casey Alcantara, Canadian Stevenson fall short in M15 Egypt doubles final

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Francis Casey Alcantara IG" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/26/20220326-francis-casey-alcantara-ig.jpg"/><figcaption>Francis Casey Alcantara in action at the Kunal Patel San Francisco Open 2021. Photo courtesy of Francis Casey Alcantara on Instagram</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA – In their second final in Egypt this month, Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Kelsey Stevenson of Canada finished as runners-up to Petr Bar Biryukov and Marat Sharipov of Russia, 7-6(6), 3-6, 8-10, at the M15 Sharm ElSheikh Futures tournament on Saturday.Their clash on Court 3 of Soho Square, which lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes, kicked off with holds of serve from both sides.Bar Biryukov and Sharipov averted an early scare by saving 3 break points in the opening game.Alcantara and Stevenson saved 3 break points in the 8th game, and the Russians saved 2 break points in the 11th.Both teams continued to hold serve to level at 6-6 and figured in a tiebreak, which Bar Biryukov and Sharipov opened with an ace.The Russians raced to a 3-0 lead, and the Filipino-Canadian tandem caught up at 3-3. At 5-5, Alcantara and Stevenson held serve to earn a set point. They broke serve in the 13th game for their 2nd set point, and held serve to win the tiebreak at 8-6.Alcantara and Stevenson began the 2nd set with a 2-0 edge, and Bar Biryukov and Sharipov replied by winning the next 4 games to lead at 4-2.In the 8th game, the Russians saved 3 break points to advance to 5-3, then broke serve to force a match tiebreak, 6-3.The 10-point decider saw Bar Biryukov and Sharipov jump to a 7-2 lead.Alcantara and Stevenson responded to this by claiming the next 5 points to even things at 7-7.At 8-8, the Russians fought off the resurgence of their opponents by holding serve to earn a match point, then breaking serve to clinch the title, 10-8.On their way to the final, Alcantara and Stevenson ousted No. 4 seeds Aleksandre Bakshi and Aleksandre Metreveli of Georgia, 3-6, 6-1, 10-7, in the 1st round.They received a walkover from Kirill Kivattsev and Vitali Shvets of Russia in the quarterfinals, then routed Marco Brugnerotto and Lorenzo Rottoli of Italy, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinals.Alcantara also participated in the event’s qualifying draw, where he lost to Jordan Chiu of the United States, 3-6, 3-6, in the 1st round.The M15 Sharm ElSheikh series of tilts began on February 28, with Alcantara and Stevenson reaching the doubles final of the 1st leg as the No. 2 seeds. They lost to top seeds Francesco Vilardo and Samuel Vincent Ruggeri of Italy, 6-2, 5-7, 3-10.As the No. 3 seeds in the M15 Sharm ElSheikh 2nd leg, Alcantara and Stevenson were defeated by Maximus Jones of Thailand and Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi of Ukraine, 2-6, 3-6, in the 1st round.They suffered the same fate in the 3rd leg, falling once more to No. 4 seeds Vilardo and Vincent Ruggeri, 5-7, 3-6. Alcantara, 30, is the ATP Doubles No. 621 with a career high of No. 257 in 2018.He is the first Filipino to win a grand slam after clinching the 2009 Australian Open junior boys’ doubles title with Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei.In 2019, the Cagayan de Oro native won the Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold together with Jeson Patrombon.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/05/22/tennis-top-seeds-halt-alcantara-canadian-partner-in-egypt-final">Tennis: Top seeds halt Alcantara, Canadian partner in Egypt final</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/10/09/alcantara-goes-easy-amid-tennis-pressure">Alcantara goes easy amid tennis pressure</a></li></ul><div>FROM THE ARCHIVES</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cNO9FvC6_6c?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Alcantara and Canadian partner Kelsey Stevenson lost to Petr Bar Biryukov and Marat Sharipov 7-6(6), 3-6, 8-10 at M15 Sharm ElSheikh Futures Saturday.