MANILA – In their second final in Egypt this month, Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Kelsey Stevenson of Canada finished as runners-up to Petr Bar Biryukov and Marat Sharipov of Russia, 7-6(6), 3-6, 8-10, at the M15 Sharm ElSheikh Futures tournament on Saturday.

Their clash on Court 3 of Soho Square, which lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes, kicked off with holds of serve from both sides.

Bar Biryukov and Sharipov averted an early scare by saving 3 break points in the opening game.

Alcantara and Stevenson saved 3 break points in the 8th game, and the Russians saved 2 break points in the 11th.

Both teams continued to hold serve to level at 6-6 and figured in a tiebreak, which Bar Biryukov and Sharipov opened with an ace.

The Russians raced to a 3-0 lead, and the Filipino-Canadian tandem caught up at 3-3.

At 5-5, Alcantara and Stevenson held serve to earn a set point. They broke serve in the 13th game for their 2nd set point, and held serve to win the tiebreak at 8-6.

Alcantara and Stevenson began the 2nd set with a 2-0 edge, and Bar Biryukov and Sharipov replied by winning the next 4 games to lead at 4-2.

In the 8th game, the Russians saved 3 break points to advance to 5-3, then broke serve to force a match tiebreak, 6-3.

The 10-point decider saw Bar Biryukov and Sharipov jump to a 7-2 lead.

Alcantara and Stevenson responded to this by claiming the next 5 points to even things at 7-7.

At 8-8, the Russians fought off the resurgence of their opponents by holding serve to earn a match point, then breaking serve to clinch the title, 10-8.

On their way to the final, Alcantara and Stevenson ousted No. 4 seeds Aleksandre Bakshi and Aleksandre Metreveli of Georgia, 3-6, 6-1, 10-7, in the 1st round.

They received a walkover from Kirill Kivattsev and Vitali Shvets of Russia in the quarterfinals, then routed Marco Brugnerotto and Lorenzo Rottoli of Italy, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinals.

Alcantara also participated in the event’s qualifying draw, where he lost to Jordan Chiu of the United States, 3-6, 3-6, in the 1st round.

The M15 Sharm ElSheikh series of tilts began on February 28, with Alcantara and Stevenson reaching the doubles final of the 1st leg as the No. 2 seeds.

They lost to top seeds Francesco Vilardo and Samuel Vincent Ruggeri of Italy, 6-2, 5-7, 3-10.

As the No. 3 seeds in the M15 Sharm ElSheikh 2nd leg, Alcantara and Stevenson were defeated by Maximus Jones of Thailand and Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi of Ukraine, 2-6, 3-6, in the 1st round.

They suffered the same fate in the 3rd leg, falling once more to No. 4 seeds Vilardo and Vincent Ruggeri, 5-7, 3-6.

Alcantara, 30, is the ATP Doubles No. 621 with a career high of No. 257 in 2018.

He is the first Filipino to win a grand slam after clinching the 2009 Australian Open junior boys’ doubles title with Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei.

In 2019, the Cagayan de Oro native won the Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold together with Jeson Patrombon.

• Tennis: Top seeds halt Alcantara, Canadian partner in Egypt final
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