RP netters open Germany campaign with twin wins

Filipino netters Jeson Patrombon and Francis Casey Alcantara defeated separate rivals to open up their respective campaign in the 2010 Offenbach Tennis Championship in Germany on a winning note.

The 11th seed Patrombon, currently 39th in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world junior rankings, demolished German wild card bet Jannis Koeke, 6-0, 6-2, while the 13th seed Alcantara dispatched Austrian Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, 6-0, 6-2.

Patrombon will next face Patrick Ofner after the unseeded Austrian pulled off a 6-3, 6-0 decision over Germany Jannis Kahlke while Alcantara arranged a second round meeting with Tomas Propop of the Czech Republic, who eliminated German qualifier Daniel Leitner, 6-0, 6-2.

Both junior netters also entered the second round in the doubles event with Alcantara’s partnership with Hugo Dellien of Bolivia resulting to 7-5, 6-3 victory against the pair of Lyn Max Kempen of Germany and Croatian Filip Veger.

Alcantara and Dellien, seeded fifth in the doubles event, will have Julian Lenz and Ralf Steinbach as their next opponent the German pair carved out a 5-7, 6-1, 10-5 win over Belgium’s Romain Bogaerts and American Dennis Novikov.

Patrombon’s collaboration with Turkey’s Cahit Kapukiran earned for them a second round meeting with the eighth-seeded pair of Diego Galeano of Paraguay and Felipe Rios of Chile.

Patrombon and Kapukiran defeated Germany’s Philip Gehrmann and Kevin Kovacs, 7-5, 6-3, while Galeano and Rios scored a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Claude Benz and Vullnet Tashi of Switzerland.

This will be Patrombon’s final tournament on clay before shifting to grass in next week’s Wimbledon Juniors Championship where the 17-year-old netter is entered in the main draw.