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Francis Casey Alcantara, Fajing Sun finish as ATP Challenger runners-up in China

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Chinese Fajing Sun and Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara are the runners-up of the 2023 Zhangjiagang Challenger in China. Francis Casey Alcantara on Instagram" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/09/02/09022023-alcantara.jpg"/><figcaption>Chinese Fajing Sun and Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara are the runners-up of the 2023 Zhangjiagang Challenger in China. <em>Francis Casey Alcantara on Instagram</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara, who reached a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 224 last month, posted his fifth runner-up result on the ATP Challenger Tour in Zhangjiagang, China on Saturday.</p><p>Alcantara and China’s Fajing Sun fell short in the final on Central Court versus No. 4 seeds Ray Ho of Chinese Taipei and Matthew Christopher Romios of Australia, 3-6, 4-6.</p><p>After an exchange of love service holds, Ho and Romios held with an ace then broke serve on the deciding point at deuce to be at 3-1.</p><p>They stormed ahead to 5-2 with another hold at love, to which Alcantara and Sun replied with a quick service hold at 40-15 to trail at 3-5.</p><p>Ho and Romios gained four set points on serve and sealed the first set with a forehand winner at the net, 6-3.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/30/23/french-4th-seeds-edge-alcantara-sun-in-segovia-challenger-final">Tennis: French fourth seeds edge Francis Casey Alcantara, Fajing Sun in Segovia Challenger final</a></li></ul><p>Alcantara and Sun were unable to turn things around in the second set as their opponents leveled at 40-40 in the third game and broke serve for 2-1 with a backhand down-the-line service return.</p><p>Despite the early break, the Filipino-Chinese tandem fought on and inched closer at 3-4 by saving two break points.</p><p>As they were serving to stay in the match at 3-5, Alcantara and Sun faced a match point at 40-40 and clinched the deciding point due to a netted forehand service return.</p><p>Ho and Romios proceeded to earn three championship points on serve and claimed the win on their first match point, 6-4, after Alcantara and Sun hit a backhand return of serve into the net.</p><p>“Not the result that we wanted today but we played some decent tennis throughout the week,” the 20-time ITF men’s doubles champion and ATP Doubles World No. 226 from the Philippines wrote on Instagram.</p><p>Alcantara and Sun, the Segovia Challenger finalists in July and winners of the 2018 China F8 Futures, pulled off straight-sets victories on their way to the final.</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></ul><p>They stunned Indian second seeds Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli and Arjun Kadhe in the opening round, 6-0, 6-3, Chinese wildcards Hanwen Li and Xiaofei Wang in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-1, and home bets Yunchaokete Bu and Rigele Te in the semifinals, 7-6(7), 6-3.</p><p>Alcantara, who peaked at 758th in the 2017 ATP Singles Rankings, also competed in the qualifying draw of the Zhangjiagang International Challenger.</p><p>The 31-year-old went out in the first round against sixth seed Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan, 5-7, 3-6.</p><p>The current season has seen the 2009 Australian Open boys’ doubles winner bagging three M25 doubles championships on the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour.</p><p>In May, the Cagayan de Oro native won his second Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold medal in Cambodia alongside Ruben Gonzales.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></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 News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Francis Casey Alcantara posted his fifth runner-up result on the ATP Challenger Tour in Zhangjiagang, China on Saturday.