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Tennis: Ruben Gonzales ousted in Tenerife Challenger doubles semis

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="República Dominicana Open on Instagram." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/02/11/202302011-republica-dominicana-open-ig.jpg"/><figcaption>Ruben Gonzales at the 2022 Santo Domingo Challenger. <em>Screenshot from the República Dominicana Open on Instagram.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA – Doubles specialist Ruben Gonzales of the Philippines, a runner-up at last week’s Cleveland Open, posted a semifinal finish in the Tenerife Challenger in Spain on Friday.</p><p>No. 2 seeds Gonzales and Brazilian Fernando Romboli lost to the fourth-seeded pair of Australian Andrew Harris and American Chris Harrison, 2-6, 4-6, at Court 3 of the Abama Tennis Academy.</p><p>Trailing at 0-3, Gonzales and Romboli managed to earn three break points in the fourth game, but these were saved by Harris and Harrison for a 4-0 lead.</p><p>The Filipino-Brazilian tandem bounced back to hold serve, 1-4, via a forehand down-the-line winner from Romboli.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/05/23/gonzales-ends-cleveland-open-run-as-doubles-runner-up">Tennis: Ruben Gonzales is Cleveland Open doubles runner-up</a></li></ul><p>They inched a bit closer, 2-5, via a Gonzales backhand crosscourt volley winner, but the Australian-American duo responded with a backhand volley winner on their third set point to take the first set, 6-2.</p><p>Gonzales and Romboli had a better start in the second set, and there were no breaks of serve as the teams leveled at 3-3.</p><p>The Filipino and Brazilian saved three break points in the following game, but Harris and Harrison won the deciding point at deuce, 4-3, with a forehand passing shot that returned Gonzales’ second serve.</p><p>The competition could have been equalized in the eighth game, but the break point opportunity of Gonzales and Romboli was saved by a forehand overhead smash by their Australian and American opponents.</p><p>Gonzales and Romboli held serve to stay in the match, 4-5, and Harris and Harrison wasted no time in the 10th game by zooming to 40-0 while serving for the match.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/01/22/tennis-huey-gonzales-bag-savannah-challenger-title">Tennis: Huey, Gonzales bag Savannah Challenger title</a></li></ul><p>A backhand return of serve error from Gonzales handed the victory to Harris and Harrison, 6-4, who will face No. 3 seeds Luke Johnson of United Kingdom and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands in the final on Saturday.</p><p>En route to the semifinal of the ATP Challenger Tour event, Gonzales and Romboli eked out two hard-fought wins with match tiebreaks.</p><p>They eliminated Filip Bergevi of Sweden and Grigoriy Lomakin of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8, in the first round, then overcame Gian Marco Moroni of Italy and Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic, 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-5, in the quarterfinals. </p><p>Last week in Ohio, Gonzales was also seeded second along with Reese Stalder of the United States, and they fell short of winning the Cleveland Open title against top seeds American Robert Galloway and Mexican Hans Hach Verdugo, 6-3, 5-7, 6-10.</p><p>Gonzales, 37, has eight Challenger doubles titles, three of which were won last year in Savannah, Santo Domingo, and Yokohama.</p><p>The ATP Doubles World No. 136 reached a career-best ranking of No. 122 in August and won the Southeast Asian Games men’s doubles gold medal in May with countryman Treat Huey.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d78fZIKnYT4?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

MANILA – Doubles specialist Ruben Gonzales of the Philippines, a runner-up at last week’s Cleveland Open, posted a semifinal finish in the Tenerife Challenger in Spain on Friday.