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FRANCIS CASEY ALCANTARA stunned third seed Mark Verryth of
Australia, 7-5, 6-0, and advanced to the semifinals of the 19th
Mitsubishi-Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships on
Friday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The 12th seeded Alcantara, who is gunning for
his first major title this year, won four break points to wrap up
the match in one hour and 21 minutes.
“Malakas siyang mag-serve kaya medyo dumikit
siya sa first set,” said Alcantara referring to 10 aces of Verryth,
who is currently No. 35 in the International Tennis Federation
ranking. “But he lost his focus in the second set after committing
several mistakes and I took advantage of it to get the match.”
The 16-year-old senior student at Xavier
University in Cagayan de Oro also bested eighth seeded Matthew James
of Great Britain in the previous round.
Alcantara, world ranked No. 114, will next face
second seed Borut Puc of Slovenia, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over No. 6
Horoki Moriya of Japan.
In other results, top seed Andrew Thomas of
Australia outclassed No. 7 Alexander Lobkov of Russia, 6-4, 6-3, to
arrange a semis duel against No. 4 Korean Soong Jae Cho who survived
No. 5 Thai Kittipong Wachiramanowong, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
-- Emil Noguera
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