Alcantara, Thai partner rule ITF New Delhi doubles

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine team stalwart Francis Casey Alcantara and Pruchya Isaro of Thailand captured the men’s doubles championship in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) M25 New Delhi after blasting hometown bets Parikshit Somani and Manish Sureshkumar, 6-2, 6-4, in the final on Saturday, March 18, at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi, India.  

The duo turned the title match into a ho-hum affair after grinding it out in the previous two rounds with thrilling come-from-behind victories.

Alcantara and Isaro dominated their Indian foes right in the opening set, breaking serve twice to zoom to a 5-1 lead. 

Somani and Sureshkumar held serve in the seventh game to narrow the deficit, but that was the closest they would get as Alcantara and Isaro took the first set in the eighth game.

The second set appeared to be going the way of the locals as Alcantara and Isaro found themselves trailing 2-4. 

After a close to 30-minute interruption in the match, the Filipino and Thai pair regained momentum upon resumption by bagging the next four games to seal the match and the championship in just an hour and 12 minutes.

Alcantara, currently No. 335 in the men’s doubles world ranking, and Isaro, the second-highest ranked Thai in the world at 460, started the week on a high note after pulling off an opening-round upset over third seeds Grigoriy Lomakin of Kazakhstan and Vishnu Vardhan of India, 6-4, 7-6 (5). 

In the quarterfinal, they downed the Indian duo of Tushar Madan and Karan Singh, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7. They followed it up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 10-6 semifinal conquest of South Koreans Yunseok Jang and Woobin Shin.

The win gave Alcantara his first title in the men’s pro tour in six months. His last championship came on October 1, 2022, when he emerged champion, also along with Isaro, in the ITF M25 Tay Ninh in Vietnam. – Rappler.com