INQUIRER Sports

FRANCIS Alcantara and Clarice Patrimonio carved out emphatic wins in the opening day of the Phinma International Juniors Week 2 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

The top-seeded Alcantara, fresh off his win in Week 1, ousted Chinese Xing Bang Liu, 6-4, 6-1, in the featured match in the boys? singles event. Patrimonio on the other hand, rallied from a first-set loss and beat Thailand?s Nattawadee Kotcha, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, to avert a shutout for the RP girls in the tournament.

Alcantara will next meet the winner of the Romar Hernandez of the US and Japan?s Takashi Saito match in the Last 16 while Patrimonio, ranked 573rd in the ITF, will next meet the winner between fifth seed Rana Sherif Ahmed of Egypt and Riko Sawayanagi of Japan.

The other RP bets in the girls class all lost on opening day.