Gonzales, Barrientos modest in defeat in Ohio

RUBEN GONZALES and Colombian partner Nicolas Barrientos held their heads up high despite failing to reach the final of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Cleveland Challenger Ohio on Saturday.

After consecutive straight-set victories to open their campaign, the duo couldn’t hold fort against second-seeded Americans Alex Lawson and Robert Galloway, 5-7, 4-6, in the semifinal at the Cleveland Racquet Club hard court.

“It was a tough match,” Gonzales said after he and Barrientos failed to cash in a 4-3 first set lead. “My partner and I started off really well, we just couldn’t sustain our level today.”

The pair had little answer to their opponent’s serves and broke the Americans only twice in six exchanges. The US duo, on the other hand, broke their opponents’ serves four times and tallied 69 winners.

Gonzales, however, remained positive despite the setback.

“We won some good matches this week so that’s really positive,” said Gonzales, who reached his first semifinal round for the year. “It was great to play three matches into this tournament but most importantly, I feel my level of play coming back.”

Gonzales and Barrientos beat Americans Matthew Chen and Jonathan Powell, 6-2, 6-4, and Johnson twins Hunter and Yates, 6-4, 6-3, on their way to the semifinals.

Filipino-american Treat Huey and Dutch Sem Verbeek exited in the quarterfinals following a 5-7, 6-2, 7-10 loss to Ecuadorians Emilio Gomez and Roberto Quiroz.