By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Filipino tennis players will have a busy schedule abroad as most of them compete in the doubles of Future and Challenger events this week.
Davis Cup veteran Francis Casey Alcantara teams up with Canadian Kelsey Stevenson in the M15 Sharm ElSheikh, an event in Egypt that offers a total tournament prize of $15,000.
They will start their title bid against Thailand’s Maximus Jones and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Uzhylovskyl.
Alcantara and Stevenson are coming off a runner-up finish in the first leg of the said men’s Future event a week ago. They yielded to Italians Francesco Vilardo and Samuel Vincent Ruggeri, 2-6, 7-5, 10-3, in the final.
Alcantara is also hoping to bounce back from a first round singles loss in the qualifiers to Frances’ Cesar Bourgois, 0-6, 7-6 (6), 11-9.
Fil-Am Ruben Gonzales, meanwhile, teams up with Colombia’s Nicolas Barrientos as they collide with Argentineans Tomas Martin Etcheverry and ThiagoAgustin Tirante in the opening round of the Challenger ATP Cachantun Cup in Santiago, Chile.
The pair is seeded third in the event.
Gonzales is fresh from a semifinal finish with Swiss Luca Margaroli at the Cleveland Open in Ohio early February.
Fil-Am Treat Huey, for his part, will have Australian Matt Reid as partner as they face Americans Alex Lawson and Evan King in the Challenger Monterrey in Mexico.
Huey’s last tournament was in the ATP250 Delray Beach in Florida in February where he and Denis Kudla made it to the quarterfinals.
