Nino Alcantara & partner nab silver medal in Egypt ITF

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

One of the greatest Filipino lawn tennis players in Nino Alcantara is back on the professional stage and won the silver medal during the 2022 M15 Sharm ElSheikh Tournament in Egypt together with Canadian partner Kelsey Stevenson.

The former Philippine national team mainstay decided to have a quick break and made his comeback in the professional circuit sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Alcantara and Stevenson settled for the silver medal after falling at the hands of Italian top-seed Francesco Villardo and Samuel Vincent Ruggeri, 6-2, 5-7, 3-10.

It was a great start for Alcantara & Stevenson as the pair consistently defended their net area with the Italian duo known for their punishing baseline game and timely lob shots.

However, unforced and service errors haunted the runner-ups that were capitalized on by the Italian pair especially Ruggeri who just powered his way for a point every time a missed hit from Alcantara came.

Despite failing to win the gold medal, this has been one of the best tournament runs by Alcantara in his professional circuit career.

Alcantara & Stevenson were bound for a great run as they swept all of their opponents from the eliminations to the semifinals.

The pair took down Marco and Roberto Miceli of Italy, 6-2, 6-1 first then swept Cesar Bourgois of France and Loic Cloes of Belarus, 6-4, 6-4 during the quarterfinals.

Before their championship match, Alcantara & Stevenson took down the powerhouse duo of Wei-De Lin and Bang Shuo Yin in the semifinals, 7-6, 6-2.