SEA Games: PH duo settle for silver in men’s tennis

KUALA LUMPU—Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales dropped a tough three-set decision to the defending champions from Thailand to settle for silver in the Southeast Asian Games tennis men’s doubles Friday.

The Filipino pair took the fight to twins Sonchai and Sanchai Ratiwatana before yielding a 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 decision in the final at Jalan Duta Tennis Complex.

“It’s too bad, they got ahead in the tiebreak and we couldn’t shake it,” said Alcantara, the 2009 Australian Open juniors doubles champ.

The Thais zoomed to 4-0 in the super tiebreak. The Philippines tried to catch up with some power baseline drives but there was no stopping the Thai twins, who have now won four men’s doubles titles.

“At this level there’s no easy points. We had to be solid in serves and returns. It was very close which was already good at this level,” added Alcantara.

Anna Clarice Patrimonio, meanwhile, hopes to end the country’s gold medal drought in women’s singles when she takes on Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the finals Saturday.

The 23-year old Patrimonio is looking to become the first FIlipino SEA Games singles champ since Maricris Fernandez in 1999.

“I will do everything that I can to win, said Patrimonio, who is the daughter of former PBA four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio.

Clarice defeated fourth-seed Ka Andrea Daray of Cambodia, 6-0, 6-3, in the semifinal round to advance to her first gold-medal match in her career.

Kumkhum, the No. 1 ranked, defeated Tan Li Yan Stefani of Singapore, 6-0, 6-0, in the other semifinals. The Thai has career-best ranking of 85th in the world in singles and won gold in doubles in 2014 Incheon Asian Games.