Alcantara, partner ousted in semis of Bengaluru doubles tilt

MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino tennister Francis Alcantara bowed out of the Bengaluru Tennis Open doubles semifinals in India after he and his partner, Japan’s Kaichi Uchida, succumbed to hometown bets Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan, 6-2, 2-6, 10-7, Saturday.

After Alcantara and Uchida inched close early on, 2-3, the Indian duo blanked them the rest of the way as they took the 6-2 first set.

The Filipino-Japanese pair then did the same after Myneni and Ramanathan won the fifth game of the second set.

In the third set, Alcantara and Uchida led early, holding a 4-2 lead after a volley by Uchida.

However, the Indians slowly stormed back and eventually took the lead, 7-6, with back-to-back points capped by a service ace.

Alcantara gave their opponents the 8-6 lead after being unable to return an attack.

After Uchida salvaged a point, 8-7, Myneni and Ramanathan did not allow their opponents to score another point to barge into the tourney’s finals.

A service ace ended the semifinal match.

Ramanathan and Myneni will be facing the French duo of Maxime Janvier and Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine on Saturday.