Ruben Gonzales netted his best performance so far in the new season, reaching the men’s doubles semifinals of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Cleveland Open on Saturday with Swiss partner Luca Margaroli before falling to the tournament’s eventual champions.
Gonzales and Margaroli couldn’t catch the breaks in the super tiebreak in losing to Americans William Blumberg and Max Schnur, 6-3, 4-6 (10-8) in the semifinals.
“Very close match in the semis,” said Gonzales, 36, “Just a few points here and there and it could have gone our way. Overall, it was a good tournament. We played very well and beat two good teams.”
The tandem, seeded third, bundled out Dominican Republic’s Nick Hardt and Colombia’s Nicolas Mejia (6-2, 6-4) in the first round, before disposing of Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France and Thomas Fabbiano of Italy (6-4, 6-2), in the quarterfinals.
Blumberg and Schnur toppled top seeds Robert Galloway and Jackson Withrow, also of the United States, 6-3, 7-6 (4), for the title.
But there’s no shame in the semifinal finish for Gonzales, who opened the season with a quarterfinal ending the previous week in Columbus, Ohio, partnered with James Cerretani.
Gonzales, a long-time national team stalwart, said he was pumped up by his season start as he looks to snare his first title of the season.