Alex Eala and Francis Alcantara came agonizingly close to a finals berth but fell in a nail-biting three-set thriller to Thailand’s Pawit Sornlaksup and Patcharin Cheapchandej, 7-5, 5-7, 7-10, in the mixed doubles semifinals of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Wednesday at the National Tennis Development Centre in Nonthaburi.
The Filipino duo, seeded second and considered favorites thanks to their superior world rankings, were expected to dominate.
Eala is currently ranked 166th in doubles, with a career-high of 155, while Alcantara sits at 273 in men’s doubles, after reaching 162 last year.
Their Thai opponents, by contrast, are ranked much lower: Sornlaksup at 1101 in men’s doubles and Cheapchandej achieving a career-high of 533 in the women’s rankings.
Yet the rankings barely mattered when the match swung to a super tiebreak after splitting the first two sets.
In the end, Sornlaksup and Cheapchandej proved steadier under pressure, securing a hard-fought victory after three hours of intense play.
It was a heartbreaking result for Eala and Alcantara, who captured bronze in the mixed doubles at the 2023 Asian Games in China.
Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, the impressive run of junior standouts Tennielle Madis and Steffi Aludo ended in the semifinals at the hands of top-seeded Indonesians Adila Sutjiadi and Janice Tjen, 1-6, 1-6.
The unranked 18-year-old Madis and 17-year-old Aludo were simply overpowered by world No. 51 Sutjiadi and No. 82 Tjen.
Still, the young Filipinos can take pride in their SEA Games campaign.
They started strong with a straight-sets victory over Vietnam’s Thuy Tran and Hong Hanh Ngo, 6-1, 6-3, in the opening round, and followed it with a stunning quarterfinal upset of third seeds Thasaporn Naklo and Patcharin Cheapchandej, 6-4, 6-2.
