By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Francis Casey Alcantara and Thai partner Maximus Jones bowed to Indian pair Adil Kalyanpur and Vishnu Vardhan, 6-3, 6-2, to settle for the runner-up honors in the men’s doubles of the M15 Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand over the weekend.
It was the second runner-up finish for Alcantara this season in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) doubles circuit, with the first coming last January with Chinese partner Sun Fajing in the Nonthaburi Challenger also in Thailand.
“Solid week making finals here in Thailand. Thank you, Maximus Jones, for this week. Hope we can progress in the following weeks,” said Alcantara in a social media post.
Prior to their finals defeat, Alcantara and Jonese only managed to drop a single set — in their 6-4, 6-7 (15), 10-4 semifinal win over Thais Yuttana Charoenphon and Kasidit Samrej. They routed Malaysia’s Misuki Wei Kang Leong and Greece’s Stefanos Sakellaridis, 6-2, 6-4, in the opening round, then thumped Thais Jira Navasirisomboon and Pawit Sorniaksup, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarters.
Alcantara has won 23 ITF doubles titles so far and is hoping to follow up his recent title win in the M25 Chennai in India with Indonesian partner Christopher Rungkat last January.
Meanwhile, AJ Lim edged Australian Stefan Vujic, 7-5, 7-6 (5), to advance in the second qualifying round of the M25 Tianjin in China.
The victory set him up a meeting with local bet Ye Hongyu, who survived compatriot Li Yifeng, 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.
Lim was coming off a semifinal finish in the previous leg of the said $25,000 ITF event where he also went through three qualifying matches to make it to the next round.
