MANILA – No. 9 seed Joewyn Rey Pascua of the Philippines fell to No. 2 seed Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar of India, 6-7(3), 6-7(3), in the semifinals of the J4 Nonthaburi in Thailand.

“It was a good match, it could have gone either way,” Philippine Tennis Academy (PTA) head coach Jun Toledo wrote about Friday’s semifinal in a Facebook post. “Let’s go home for now and train more (and harder!).”

The 17-year-old Pascua, who won his first ITF juniors title in July at the J5 Tay Ninh City in Vietnam, received a bye in the first round.

He defeated Japanese qualifier Leon Pauli in the second round, 6-2, 7-5, and cruised past the third round after Minh Phat Nguyen of Vietnam retired, 6-2, 2-0, ret.

In the quarterfinals, the ITF Juniors World No. 606 overcame No. 3 seed Zachary Viiala of Australia, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3.

Pascua, a two-time ITF junior doubles champion alongside countryman Axl Lajon Gonzaga at the J5 Yogyakarta in Indonesia, also competed in the doubles draw.

• READ: Joewyn Rey Pascua, HK doubles partner outlasted in J4 Singapore final
• READ: Joewyn Rey Pascua bags first ITF junior singles title in Vietnam

No. 3 seeds Pascua and Aryan Jit Singh of India received a bye in the opening round, then beat the Thai tandem of Kunanan Pantaratorn and Phopthum Sriwong in the second round, 6-4, 6-4.

In the quarterfinals, they lost to No. 8 seeds Penn Charusorn of Thailand and Jaishnav Shinde of India, 1-6, 6-1, 11-13.

Pascua’s J4 Nonthaburi results were improvements from last week’s finishes at the J2 Nonthaburi, where he went out in the second round in singles and doubles.

The Grade 2 and Grade 4 ITF junior events in Nonthaburi were held on the outdoor hard courts of the National Tennis Development Center of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand.

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