Fil-Am Ruben Gonzales snared his fourth International Tennis Federation doubles crown this year after he and South African partner Ruan Roelofse beat Sam Barry of Ireland and Peter Kobelt of the United States, 6-4, 6-4, in the Broadway Tennis Center Futures tournament held over the weekend in California.

The two squads traded huge shots but it was the tandem of the Davis Cup veteran and the South African who produced the lethal ones to clinch the title.

The title victory came two months after he and American partner Catalin Gard reigned supreme in the Alperia Tennis Trophy in Bolzano, Italy which is also a $25,000 tournament.

Gonzales and Roelofse only dropped two sets all throughout the tournament that typified their dominance in the $25,000 event.

They started their campaign with a 6-2, 5-7, 10-5 win over Austria’s Sebastian Bader and Germany’s Sebastian Fanselow before beating the American duo Timothy Sah and Isaiah Strode, 6-2, 6-0; and another American tandem of Alex Lawson and Austin Smith, 7-6, 4-6, 10-6.

The title win is expected to boost Gonzales’ doubles rankings. He is currently ranked No. 282.

Gonzales also topped the $25,000 Grand Prix Tennis De Bourge-En-Bresse-Open De L’Ain claycourt event in France last July with Gard, as well as the $10,000 Abierto Internacional Varonil Pachuca event in Mexico with Darian King of Barbados.

Meanwhile, former PH top junior netter Francis Casey Alcantara and Indonesian partner David Susanto settled for the runner-up finish in the $10,000 Vietnam F8 Futures-Becamex IDC Cup also over the weekend.

Source: sports.mb.com.ph