Alcantara, partner win doubles title in Germany

MANILA, Philippines – Francis Casey “Niño" Alcantara of the Philippines and Huang Liang-chi of Chinese Taipei showed their poise down the stretch to win the boys’ doubles title of the 17th International Junior Tournament of Offenbach/Main Sunday in Germany (early Monday in Manila). Top seeds of the grade 1 clay tournament, Alcantara and Huang outsteadied eighth seed Duilio Beretta of Peru and Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador in a tightly-fought match that reached a deciding tiebreak, 6-2, 4-6 [10-7]. On the way to the crown, the Alcantara-Huang tandem swept past their opponents in the field of 32 pairs. After taking a first round bye, the duo hardly broke a sweat in beating Hendrick Bertrams and Julian Lenz of Germany in the second round, 6-1, 6-1; sixth seeded Guilherme Clezar of Brazil and Emilio Gomez of Ecuador in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3; and No. 4 Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Harry Fowler of the US in the semis, 6-4, 6-2. This was Alcantara’s first doubles title with Huang, improving on their silver medal finish at the ITF/LTAT Junior Championships in Thailand last March. Overall, the 17-year-old pride of Cagayan hoisted his fifth doubles trophy for 2009, a collection topped off by a Grand Slam diadem, the Australian Open juniors, which he won with regular partner Hsieh Cheng Peng of Chinese Taipei last January. Alcantara has also posted victories at the 45th Astrid Bowl Charleloi, Belgian International Junior Championships in Belgium, also in partnership with Hsieh; and the 13th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup-ITF World Junior Tennis Championships in Malaysia and the 20th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championships in the Philippines, both with Daniel Berta of Sweden, the reigning French Open boys' singles titlist. The Filipino ace, who is ranked 32nd in the world, is looking to play at another major, the Wimbledon juniors. His last stint at a Grand Slam, the Roland Garros Junior Championship, proved disappointing as he crashed out in the first round of the singles and reached as far as the Round of 16 of the doubles with Hsieh. - GMANews.TV