Philippine national tennis team veteran Ruben Gonzales continues his fine start in the ATP Challenger tour this season as he makes his second finals appearance in three weeks.
Gonzales and Fernando Romboli of Brazil eked out a pulsating 7-5, 4-6, 10-5 victory over top seeds Roman Jebavy of the Czech Republic and Jonny O’Mara of Great Britain in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger Manama on Friday at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya, Bahrain.
Seeded fourth in the competition, Gonzales and Romboli broke serve in the eleventh game of the opening set to go up 6-5 before closing out on their serve to get ahead.
The Filipino and Brazilian duo had their chances to bag the second set. They broke serve again in the opening game but Jebavy and O’Mara evened the count in the very next game.
The top seeds eventually sent the match to a super tiebreak after breaking serve in the ninth game and holding serve to win 6-4.
The deciding set was another tight contest as the score remained tied at 3-3. Gonzales and Romboli pocketed the next three points to go up 6-3. Jebavy and O’Mara inched closer at 4-6, but that was the closest they would get as Gonzales and Romboli zoomed to an insurmountable 9-4 lead and won the match two points later.
Gonzales and Romboli will be playing for the championship on Saturday against third seeds Patrik Niklas-Salminen of Finland and Bart Stevens of the Netherlands.
