PH tennis bets boosts confidence ahead of SEA Games with winning runs in Malaysia

National tennis team mainstays Francis Casey Alcantara (left) and Jeson Patrombon (right) will represent the Philippines in the upcoming 2019 SEA Games Tennis tournament.

By: Kristoffer Ed Bellen

MANILA--The Philippine national men's and women's tennis team just offered what the Filipino fans can expect two weeks from now as they earned clinical wins over the weekend at the recently concluded KL Open 2019 at the National Tennis Centre, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday.

Five of the country's bets for the upcoming 2019 Southeast Asian Games Tennis tournament at Rizal Memorial Tennis Center were in action at the five-day event organized by Tennis Malaysia as Francis Casey Alcantara, Jeson Patrombon, AJ Lim, Marian Capadocia and Shaira Hope Rivera all participated for their last tournament before the biennial competition here in Manila.

The Pinoy netters almost swept the entire tournament.

Capadocia and Rivera, the country's current number 1 and number 2 players in the women's division, was unbeatable all throughout since day one as they completed a singles and doubles sweep.

In the women's singles, the recently-hailed back-to-back PCA Open champion, Capadocia, met Rivera in the finals and beat her, 6-4, 6-1, before the two combined forces in the women's double to clinch the title via walkover against Suhana Sofia and Theiviya Selvarajoo.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Alcantara and Patrombon featured an intense final against Christian Chin and Jason Taylor, 6-3 4-6 13-11, to eventually hoist the trophy.

Alcantara and Patrombon had to beat Lim and his Pakistani partner Mitsuki Leong in the semifinals, 2-6, 6-4, 10-8, before clinching the spot at the championship round.

The Filipino trio, furthermore, all reached at least the quarterfinals with Lim being the only player to move into the championship round before eventually fallingb short against top seed Shamirul Shahril in three hard-fought sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Capadocia, Rivera, Alcantara, Patrombon, and Lim will be joined by US NCAA's Arizona Wildcats' assistant coach Denise Dy, Khim Iglupas, Clarice Patrimonio, and ATP Tour players Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales to banner the Philippines in the upcoming SEA Games.

Follow the writer on Twitter: @KristoffBellen.