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 P150,000 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.

Ledama and Olivarez signaled their intentions early, breaking Bautista and Tangub in the very first game of the match. They comfortably held serve four times before breaking again in the ninth game to pocket the first set. The second frame was a complete masterclass — the fourth seeds swept the first five games before routinely exchanging serves to wrap up the lopsided win.

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).

Ultimately, however, they ran out of steam against the relentless Ledama-Olivarez machine.

The tournament’s form charts held perfectly true in the women’s doubles division, setting up a highly anticipated 1-versus-2 battle for the P100,000 top prize. 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.