Alcantara, Arcilla advance to Futures doubles semis

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino wild card entries Francis Casey Alcantara and Johnny Arcilla crushed Chinese Taipei’s Lee Kuan-yi and Liang Wen-Chun, 6-3, 6-1, to barge into the doubles semifinals of the $15,000 PSC-Philta International Men’s Futures Open at Valle Verde Country Club shell courts in Pasig City.

The win Thursday night came after the local tandem’s stunning upset win over Japanese second seeds Katsuki Nagao and Hiromasa Oku (7-5, 6-3) in the first round of the meet which assured them of world ranking points.

Alcantara and Arcilla also gained points in singles after opening round victories although they both bowed out in the second round. The tourney is organized by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Tennis Association, Pioneer Insurance, Babolat, Asian Tennis Federation and Philta president  Edwin Olivarez.

They will face another Japanese pair in Issei Okamura and Kento Takeuchi in today’s semis. Okamura and Takeuchi dumped fourth seeds Chinese Taipei’s Hung Jui-Chen and Lin Wei-De, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round.

Top seeds Harry Bourchier of Australia and Enrique Lopez-Perez and third seeds Kunal Anand and Vinayak Sharma Kaza of India were to lock horns late last night.

Philta vice president Randy Villanueva yesterday said they are pushing for more ITF Futures or even a Challenger tournament next year to provide local players venues to gain world rankings.

He lauded the gallant showing of Filipinos led by Jeson Patrombon, qualifier Elbert Anasta and wildcards Alcantara, Arcilla, Kyle Dandan and Patrick John Tierro. Alcantara made his ITF debut in the event.

“These players with the exception of Jeson don’t get to play in Futures because they don’t have ranking points. But to earn those points you have to join these tournaments,” said Villanueva. “So the way to help these players level up is to host more Futures.

He said the ideal number of Futures a country should have is at least 12 in a year, but the Philippines only hosts two this year. The country will stage the Futures 2 in Philippine Columbian Association next week.