Casey, Swede nail F5 title

Francis Casey Alcantara grabbed his sixth ITF Futures title after pairing with Markus Ericksson of Sweden in ruling the ITF Futures 5 doubles in Tay Ninh, Vietnam, on Saturday night.

Alcantara and Ericksson bucked a slow first set to beat Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam and Roman Safiullin of Russia, 5-7, 6-4, (10-7) in the final that lasted one hour and 36 minutes.

It was their first title together and 12th overall for the 26-year-old Filipino who is looking to barge into the top 100 by next year.

“Hopefully I can sustain it because I want to compete in the ATP Tour next year,” the 313th-ranked Alcantara told the Inquirer. —MARC REYES