Filipino No. 4 seeds Ruben Gonzales and Francis Casey Alcantara made an early exit from the men’s doubles event of the 19th Asian Games (Asiad) in Hangzhou, China on Sunday.

The two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalists suffered a 6-4, 4-6, 5-10 upset against Thantub Suksumrarn and Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand on Centre Court of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre.

Gonzales and Alcantara rallied from 1-3 to 3-3 by holding serve at 40-15 then catching up to deuce and converting their first break point.

After securing a love service hold for 5-4, the Philippine Davis Cuppers broke serve to take the first set, 6-4.

The second set had no service breaks until the ninth game, with the Filipinos overcoming deuces in the first and seventh games.

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Suksumrarn and Trongcharoenchaikul broke at deuce to serve for the set at 5-4, and they notched a love hold to force a super tiebreak, 6-4.

At 2-2, Suksumrarn and Trongcharoenchaikul pulled away to 6-2 and 7-3.

Gonzales, 38, and Alcantara, 31, sought to reduce the gap by trailing at 4-8, but were unable to foil their opponents’ comeback attempt.

The Thais closed out the match at 10-5 to arrange a second-round clash versus Seongchan Hong and Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea, who eliminated Chak Lam Coleman Wong and Hong Kit Wong of Hong Kong, 6-2, 6-2.

Suksumrarn and Trongcharoenchaikul served six aces and one double fault, converted two out five break points, and won a total of 70 points.

Gonzales and Alcantara had one ace and a single double fault, won both of their break opportunities, and had 69 total points won.

According to the mixed doubles draw, Alcantara will return to action with 18-year-old Alex Eala as the No. 14 seeds.

They will face Sunira Thapa and Pranav Khanal of Nepal in the second round after both teams received a bye.

Eala, meanwhile, will begin her women’s singles campaign on Monday as the fourth seed who got a bye in the opening round. She is set to play first on Court 5 versus Sarah Ibrahim Khan of Pakistan.

The Asiad tennis events are scheduled from September 24 to 30, while the continental meet that began on Saturday will run until October 8.

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