Futures 2 tennis: Alcantara shows foe who’s clay boss
Not in my house.
Johnny Arcilla, the 35-year-old acclaimed king of local shell-clay courts, was staring at a humiliating defeat at the hands of a visitor right on the same courts where he reigned supreme eight times before.
After dropping the first set, Arcilla fought back gallantly, using his weapon of choice: The slow-paced baseline game that eventually yanked the power-hitting Chen Tin of Chinese Taipei out his rhythm.
“I have to play my game against him,” said Arcilla in Filipino.
And true enough, after one hour and 40 minutes, the battle-scarred Filipino was clutching a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory and moves on to the second round of the $15,000 Philippine Columbian Association Open-Cebuana Lhuillier ITF Men’s Futures 2 at the PCA clay courts.
But another stiff challenge awaits him as Arcilla will next face top seed Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain, who ousted Lee Kuan-yi of Chinese Taipei, 6-2, 6-0.
Earlier, just as the day looked bleak for the Filipino netters, Francis Casey Alcantara relied on quickness and cunning and turned things brighter.
The 23-year-old former Pepperdine main man and 2009 Australian Open boys doubles champ tripped Vinayak Kaza of India, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).
