Pinoy ace Alcantara gets boot at Roland Garros

MANILA, Philippines – Top Filipino netter Francis Casey Alcantara’s bid for a majors singles crown came to an abrupt end at the Roland Garros Junior Championships 2009 as he fell to Agustin Velotti of Argentina in Monday’s (Tuesday in Manila) first round in Paris. The 17-year-old ace from Cagayan de Oro City dropped a 7-6 (1), 6-4 setback at the hands of the 10th seeded Velotti to bomb out of the junior equivalent of the French Open. World No. 12 Velotti, the singles champion of last week’s 45th Astrid Bowl Charleroi, Belgian International Junior Championships 2009, arranged a Round of 32 duel with Spain’s Carlos Boluda-Purkiss, who defeated Egypt’s Karim Mohamed Maamun, 6-4, 6-2. As for world no. 31 Alcantara, it’s down to the doubles play where he is seeking his second straight majors titles. Alcantara won the Australians Open Juniors doubles crown last January with Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-Peng, a partnership that had also led to triumphs at the Grade 1 tournament Astrid Bowl in Belgium. He had also claimed doubles titles with different partners this year, such as the ITF/LTAT Junior Championships in Thailand with Liang Chi Huang also of Taipei; the 13th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup-ITF World Junior Tennis Championships in Malaysia with Daniel Berta of Sweden; and the 20th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championships in the Philippines also with Berta. But the breakthrough singles victory for the year has yet to come to Alcantara, whose lone success as a singles player came at the 2008 Phinma/ITF International Junior Tournament 1 in November in Manila. – GMANews.TV