Heavy favorites Casey Alcantara and Christopher Papa lived up to their billing, executing a pair of late-set surges to thwart AJ Lim and Ronard Joven, 6-4, 6-3, and book their ticket to the men’s doubles finals in the Palawan Open 2026 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center late Thursday.
The top-seeded duo will battle the fourth-ranked tandem of Nilo Ledama and Eric Jed Olivarez for the coveted crown and the ₱150,000 top purse, setting the stage for an explosive championship showdown.
Alcantara, a seasoned doubles specialist, and his American partner Papa endured a grueling, hold-for-hold battle against Lim and Joven through the first eight games of the opening set.
Tied at 4, Alcantara and Papa finally broke through in a pressure-packed, back-and-forth ninth game before serving out the set.
The second set followed a similar script, with both sides trading blows to reach a 3-3 count. Once again, Alcantara and Papa unleashed their full might when it mattered most – breaking their opponents in the seventh game, holding serve in the eighth, and breaking once more in the ninth to seal the straight-set victory.
While Alcantara and Papa relied on late-set heroics, Ledama and Olivarez punched their finals ticket in dominant fashion, dismantling the unranked pairing of Eric Tangub and Richard Bautista, 6-3, 6-1, in challenging court conditions.
The defeat ended a gritty, giant-killing run for Tangub and Bautista, who had previously stunned the second-seeded Indian tandem of Parth Aggarwal and Digvijay Singh in a marathon second-round thriller (6-3, 4-6, 11-9) before dominating John Benedict Aguilar and Kendrick Bona (6-2, 6-1).
Top seeds Tennielle Madis and Stefi Aludo turned back Annika Diwa and Mikaela Vicencio, 6-2, 6-4, to seal a showdown with the second-seeded sister duo of Kaye-Ann and Mika Emana, who subdued Elizabeth Abarquez and Guysie Guardo, 7-5, 6-1.
Meanwhile, the indefatigable Alcantara put himself in a position for a double-championship iteration. Teaming up with the durable Marian Capadocia in the mixed doubles division, they outlasted Arthur Pantino and Aludo, 6-4, 7-5.
For the mixed doubles crown, also worth P100,000, Alcantara and Capadocia will clash with Ronard Joven and Madis, who advanced by routing India’s Parth Aggarwal and Rovie Baulete in a swift 6-1, 6-1 performance.
