Philippines’ top junior netter AJ Lim failed to improve his previous performance after making a first-round exit at the recent Metropolia Orange Bowl International Championship in Florida, United States.
The 17-year-old Lim crashed out in his opening main draw match with a stinging 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 defeat over American Vasil Kirkov in the International Tennis Federation tournament rated similar to the Grand Slams.
It was Lim’s second straight opening-round loss in this event after also failing to make an impact in last year’s edition.
Lim, likewise, struggled in the doubles with Italian partner Liam Caruana after the fifth-seeded pair yielded to unranked Kenneth Raisma and Kristjan Tam of Estonia, 6-2, 5-7, 10-3.
It was a far cry from his last year’s doubles feat, where he finished in the semifinals with a different partner.
Meanwhile, Francis Casey Alcantara tries to eclipse his last week’s performance in the $10,000 Indonesia F6 Futures in Jakarta this week.
Alcantara, who lost in the quarterfinals of a similar $10,000 ITF event also in Jakarta, will be playing Taiwanese qualifier Cing-Yang Meng in the opening match.
Alcantara will also be competing in the doubles after he and Indonesian David Susanto are seeded second and are set to collide with Indonesian wildcard bets Iswandaru Putro and Haekal Ramadhan in the first round.