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Tennis: Francis Casey Alcantara, Pruchya Isaro exit M25 Jakarta as finalists

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Pruchya Isaro on Instagram" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/04/22/20230422-via-pruchya-isaro-ig.jpg"/><figcaption>Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Pruchya Isaro of Thailand. Pruchya Isaro on Instagram</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA – The fourth-seeded tandem of Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara and Thai Pruchya Isaro faltered in straight sets in the final of the M25 Jakarta tournament in Indonesia on Saturday.They finished as runners-up to No. 2 seeds Ray Ho of Chinese Taipei and Fajing Sun of China, 4-6, 5-7, after one hour and 22 minutes of play at the Sultan Hotel Tennis Court. At 2-2 in the opening set, Alcantara and Isaro saved two break points to take the lead, but Ho and Sun easily leveled at 3-3.The Filipino and Thai saved the first of three break points in the seventh game via an Isaro backhand volley winner, but were broken to trail at 3-4 via a backhand passing shot service return that went down the line.As Alcantara and Isaro managed to hold serve to love to be at 4-5, Ho and Sun responded by serving out the set at 15-40 with a backhand winner, 6-4.In the second set, a love service hold concluded by an Alcantara forehand winner caused the Filipino-Thai team to advance to 3-2.Alcantara and Isaro proceeded to be at 4-2 through a service break by forcing a netted forehand return.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/18/23/alcantara-thai-partner-cop-new-delhi-doubles-title">Tennis: Francis Casey Alcantara cops New Delhi doubles title with Thai partner</a></li></ul>Ho and Sun broke back with a forehand crosscourt passing shot despite facing four break points, then equalized at 4-4 with a quick service hold.At 5-5, Ho and Sun forced the 11th game to deuce, and they won the deciding point to serve for the championship at 6-5.Ho and Sun earned two match points with a booming ace, and conquered the final, 7-5, after Alcantara returned serve with a long forehand. Alcantara and Isaro, who won the M25 New Delhi title last month and M25 Tay Ninh crown in October, reached the final via a walkover from Justin Barki of Indonesia and Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands.The Filipino-Thai duo defeated Shintaro Imai and Makoto Ochi of Japan in the quarterfinals, 7-6(5), 6-4, and Aaron Addison and Ethan Cook of Australia in the first round, 6-3, 6-4.The 31-year-old Alcantara also participated in the singles qualifying draw of the $25,000 event on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men’s World Tennis Tour.He eliminated Aldhito Ramadhan Dwi Kurniawan of Indonesia in the first round, 6-3, 6-3, before losing to No. 8 seed Derek Pham of Australia in the second round, 1-6, 6-2, 2-10.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/15/23/tennis-alcantara-isaro-booted-out-in-jakarta-doubles-semis">Francis Casey Alcantara, Pruchya Isaro booted out in Jakarta doubles semis</a></li></ul>Alcantara, a six-time ITF men’s doubles winner and Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold medalist, is aiming for more success this year in order to achieve his main goal of playing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.He plans to build on his 2022 season wherein he won three ITF doubles titles, for which he was lauded by Unified Tennis Philippines (UTP) during its recognition and coffeetable book launch in February.In an interview with ABS-CBN News, UTP co-founder and president Jean Henri Lhuillier praised Alcantara’s “strong finish in 2022.” Lhuillier added that the 2009 Australian Open boys’ doubles champion is “expecting a lot in 2023 so that he can play the bigger tournaments – more Challengers, maybe someday get to the slams.”<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-5oxwMIMqE8?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The fourth-seeded tandem of Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara and Thai Pruchya Isaro faltered in straight sets in the final of the M25 Jakarta tournament in Indonesia on Saturday.