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MANILA, Philippines - Filipino ace Francis Casey Alcantara opens his bid for a second Grand Slam with partner Nikala Scholtz of South Africa in the Wimbledon boys’ doubles starting Monday (Tuesday in Manila) at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
Alcantara and Scholtz, unseeded in the tournament, will go up against the fourth-ranked American pair of Evan King and Denis Kudla in the opening round, just two days after the 17-year-old Filipino dropped out in the first round of the boys’ singles event.
The first Filipino to win a Grand Slam title by teaming up with Hsieh Cheng-Peng of Chinese Taipei in the Australian Open in the boys’ doubles, Alcantara continued to struggle in the singles, absorbing a 2-6, 6-4, 3-6 loss against Austria’s Maximilian Neuchrist on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
Alcantara also bowed out in the first round of the boys’ singles in the Australian Open against Sweden’s Daniel Berta and against Argentina’s Agustin Velotti in the recent French Open .
But the doubles event remains Alcantara’s forte with the Cagayan de Oro native now boasting of five titles in the event this year.
He has already picked up five titles this year, including his historic triumph in the Australian Open with partner Hsieh Cheng-Peng of Chinese Taipei last January.
With Hsieh, Alcantara also captured the doubles crown in the 45th Astrid Bowl Charleloi, Belgian International Junior Championships in Belgium.
Alcantara also won with Berta in 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; and with Chinese-Taipei’s Huang Liang-chi in the 17th International Junior Tournament of Offenbach/Main in Germany.
