Young Filipino netter Francis Casey "Niño" Alcantara and his partner Cheng Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei on Saturday bagged the junior doubles title in the Australian Open 2009 in Melbourne.

Alcantara and Hsieh defeated their adversaries, unseeded pair Yasutaka Uchiyama (Japan) and Mikhal Biryukov (Russia).

The Filipino netter and his partner overwhelmed their opponents in their 43-minute game with a 6-4, 6-2 score, winning 87 percent of their first serve points.

The seventh-seeded tandem entered the junior doubles finals after beating the tandem of Maximilian Neuchrist and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn of Austria 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the semifinal round.

The doubles win also relieved Alcantara of his first round loss in the boys' singles to Sweden's Daniel Berta, and also served as Hsieh's third junior Grand Slam doubles title.

'Pacman of RP tennis'

Alcantara, called by sports analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz as the Manny Pacquiao of Philippine tennis, is one of the very few Filipinos who have emerged victorious in the sport.

Nathanielsz told radio dzMM's Sportstalk program on Saturday that Alcantara's victory was the first-ever victory by a Filipino in tennis' four major tournaments (Australian, French, Wimbledon, US Open).

The 16-year-old Mindanao native currently holds a combined (singles and doubles) ranking of 29 in the juniors category of the International Tennis Federaton (ITF), the sport's world governing body.

Alcantara, who is currently a fourth year high school academic scholar at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro, currently holds a 61-33 win-loss career singles and a 71-24 career doubles record, according to his ITF profile.