Joewyn Rey Pascua of the Philippines emerged as the doubles champion and singles runner-up at the J4 Ho Chi Minh City tournament in Vietnam.
The J4 Ho Chi Minh City is the third ITF doubles crown of the 17-year-old, who won back-to-back titles in May at the J5 Yogyakarta in Indonesia with fellow Filipino Axl Lajon Gonzaga.
Pascua and Vietnamese Pham La Hoang Anh proved their mettle as the No. 1 seeds in the final on Friday by edging out No. 2 seeds Ching Chang Chiu and Xiao-Feng Zhou of Chinese Taipei, 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-8.
They ousted Vietnamese tandems Tran Quoc Cuong and Quang Vinh Nguyen in the semifinals, 6-3, 3-6, 10-7, and Khang Quoc Thang Huynh and Xuan Duc Le in the quarterfinals, 5-3, 4-2.
The Filipino-Vietnamese duo, who posted a semifinal finish in the event’s first leg last week, received a walkover in the first round from Chieh En Hou and Tzu-Cheng Liu of Chinese Taipei.
In the singles final on Saturday at the Phu Tho Tennis Club Center Court, No. 2 seed Pascua failed to sustain his comeback bid against No. 7 seed Matthew Johnstone of Singapore, 2-6, 6-1, 3-6.
The Filipino, who won his first ITF singles championship in July at the J5 Tay Ninh City in Vietnam, defeated No. 6 seed Hou in the semifinals, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and No. 5 seed Anh in the quarterfinals, 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-4.
According to Philippine Tennis Academy (PTA) coach Jun Toledo, Pascua’s semifinal lasted three hours while his quarterfinal match had a tiebreak for the third set due to a rain delay.
Pascua, also a semifinalist at last week’s J4 Ho Chi Minh City singles first leg, had easier wins over South Korean Hyeon Seok Seo in the second round, 6-1, 6-1, and Vietnamese lucky loser Tran Quoc Thai Dang in the first round, 6-1, 6-2.
As of November 21, Pascua is on a career-high ITF Juniors ranking of World No. 556.
Meanwhile, Heinz Aslan Carbonilla of the Philippines also competed at the J4 Ho Chi Minh City singles and doubles draws.
The 16-year-old Filipino fell to No. 1 seed Vinhhien Truong of Vietnam, 2-6, 5-7, in the opening round.
Toledo wrote in a Facebook post that ITF Juniors World No. 1485 Carbonilla “played really well” versus Truong.
In the doubles first round, Carbonilla and Jonas Hahn of Australia were beaten by the Vietnamese team of Ngoc Lam Cao and Minh Tuan Dinh Viet, 3-5, 0-4.
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