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Tennis: French fourth seeds edge Francis Casey Alcantara, Fajing Sun in Segovia Challenger final

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Fajing Sun, Francis Casey Alcantara, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Dan Added at the 2023 Segovia Challenger trophy ceremony. Tenis El Espinar on Instagram." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/07/30/07302023-tennis-el-espinar-on-instagram.jpg"/><figcaption>Fajing Sun, Francis Casey Alcantara, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Dan Added at the 2023 Segovia Challenger trophy ceremony. <em>Tenis El Espinar on Instagram.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines earned his <strong>fourth </strong>doubles runner-up finish on the ATP Challenger Tour in Segovia, Spain after facing teams that included former top stars Fernando Verdasco, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.</p><p>Alcantara and Fajing Sun of China were unable to convert a match point for a 6-4, 3-6, 10-12 loss in the final on Saturday against French fourth seeds Dan Added and Herbert, who peaked as the ATP Doubles World No. 2 and achieved a career Grand Slam with countryman Nicolas Mahut.</p><p>At the Pista Pedro Muñoz in Villa de El Espinar, Alcantara and Sun broke serve for 2-1 and advanced to 4-2 via a forehand volley winner by the 31-year-old Cagayan de Oro native.</p><p>In the ninth game, Herbert and Added saved four set points on serve to trail at 4-5.</p><p>The Filipino-Chinese tandem replied with a love service hold for 6-4 after Sun’s first serve elicited a backhand return error.</p><p>The score reached 3-3 in the second set, with the Frenchmen holding serve on deciding points and the Filipino and Chinese easily securing service holds at love or 40-15.</p><p>Herbert and Added broke for 5-3 after Alcantara’s serve and volley attempt ended with a netted backhand, then held for 6-3 after Sun committed a long forehand service return.</p><p>In the super tiebreak, Alcantara and Sun recovered from 0-3 until the teams leveled and saved a match point each to get to 10-10.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/17/23/tennis-alcantara-wins-20th-itf-mens-doubles-title">Tennis: Francis Casey Alcantara wins 20th ITF men’s doubles title in Thailand</a></li>	<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>On their second match point, Herbert and Added claimed the championship, 12-10, after forcing a forehand service return error.</p><p>Alcantara and Sun, winners of the 2018 China F8 Futures, began their Segovia run with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win over Spanish wildcards and 2013 ATP Finals victors Verdasco and David Marrero.</p><p>Verdasco’s career-high rankings are seventh for singles and eighth for doubles, while Marrero is a former No. 5 doubles player.</p><p>In the quarterfinals, Alcantara and Sun posted a 6-4, 6-3 upset of the top seeds: former doubles No. 36 Divij Sharan of India and 2010 US Open men’s doubles finalist and erstwhile eighth-ranked Qureshi of Pakistan.</p><p>They proceeded to pull off a comeback victory against Daniel Cukierman of Israel and Adria Soriano Barrera of Colombia in the semifinals, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.</p><p>Alcantara, a 20-time ITF men’s doubles titlist currently ranked 270th, is the first Filipino slam champion at the 2009 Australian Open boys’ doubles event.</p><p>His ongoing season is highlighted by three title victories on the ITF Tour plus his second Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold triumph in Cambodia.</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 earned his fourth doubles runner-up finish on the ATP Challenger Tour in Segovia, Spain.