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Tennis: Francis Casey Alcantara wins 20th ITF men’s doubles title in Thailand

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Francis Casey Alcantara at the 2023 Metro Manila Open. PCA Open on Facebook" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/06/17/casey.jpg"/><figcaption>Francis Casey Alcantara at the 2023 Metro Manila Open. <em>PCA Open on Facebook</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA – Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines nailed his 20th men’s doubles championship on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Tour at the M25 Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand together with Hiroki Moriya of Japan.</p><p>The second-seeded pair of Alcantara and Moriya prevailed over fourth seeds Maximus Jones of Thailand and Finn Reynolds of New Zealand, 6-2, 6-4, at the Walailak University outdoor hard court on Saturday. </p><p>The Filipino and Japanese forced the opening game to deuce and broke serve on the deciding point, then advanced to 2-0 by holding serve at 40-30.</p><p>After Jones and Reynolds got on the scoreboard via an ace, Alcantara and Moriya secured a love service hold, broke serve again, then held once more to be at 5-1.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/03/23/tennis-alcantara-moriya-capture-m25-jakarta-title">Francis Casey Alcantara, Hiroki Moriya capture M25 Jakarta title</a></li></ul><p>As they were serving for the set at 5-2, Alcantara and Moriya held serve to love to claim the first set, 6-2, in 26 minutes.</p><p>Similar to what happened in the opening set, Alcantara and Moriya clinched a service break then held serve for a 2-0 lead.</p><p>After which, there were no more breaks of serve until the end.</p><p>Alcantara and Moriya improved to 4-2 with a love service hold, and Jones and Reynolds did the same to trail at 3-4 by closing the seventh game at 40-0 with an ace.</p><p>The Filipino-Japanese tandem then saved two break points in the next game to be at 5-3, and went on to serve for the championship at 5-4.</p><p>They converted their first of three match points to win their second title together, 6-4, after 61 minutes of play.</p><p>The road to their title triumph kicked off with a breezy win over Credit Chaiyarin and Tanakorn Srirat of Thailand in the first round, 6-1, 6-1.</p><p>They defeated another Thai pair in Kasidit Samrej and Thantub Suksumrarn in the quarterfinals, 7-6(3), 6-3, then ousted Pruchya Isaro of Thailand and Markos Kalovelonis of Greece in the semifinals, 6-3, 5-7, 10-6.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/29/23/after-seag-gold-gonzales-and-alcantara-hungry-for-more">Tennis: After tough SEAG gold win, Gonzales and Alcantara are hungry for more</a></li></ul><p>The M25 Nakhon Si Thammarat crown is Alcantara’s third ITF title of the year following his championships at the M25 New Delhi with Isaro in March and M25 Jakarta with Moriya this month.</p><p>In May, the 31-year-old Alcantara became a two-time Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold medalist in Cambodia alongside Ruben Gonzales.</p><p>The ATP Doubles World No. 275 from Cagayan de Oro, who peaked at 257th in 2018, won the 2009 Australian Open boys’ doubles title to become the first Filipino grand slam champion. </p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c5RxE1d2G7k?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>

Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines nailed his 20th men’s doubles championship on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Tour.