Gonzales bags Malaysia Futures Doubles Title

NATIONAL tennis team mainstay Ruben Gonzales and American partner Hunter Reese won the doubles finals of the $15,000 Malaysia F1 Futures on Saturday at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Center in Kuching, Malaysia.

The tournament top seeds Gonzales and Reese faced the pair of Arjun Khade of India and Lukas Ollert of Germany in the finals.The unseeded Khade and Ollert upset second seeds John Lamble and Evan Song of the United States in the quarterfinals and pulled the rug from under the third seeded Australian pair of Adam Taylor and Jason Taylor in the semifinals. Khade and Ollert looked poised for another upset in the finals after they took the first set, 7-5. Gonzales and Reese regained their bearings and fought back to level the match by winning the second set, 6-4.The top seeds then held on to clinch the title with 10-5 third set victory.

In the first round of the tournament, Gonzales faced off against compatriot and former junior standout AJ Lim who partnered with Christian Chin of Malaysia. Gonzales and Reese prevailed with a score of 6-1, 6-2. They struggled in the next round as they narrowly escaped the upset axe in the quarterfinals when they won 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 10-7 over unseeded Vinayak Kaza of India and Kelsey Stevenson of Canada, but they showed fine form with a dominant win over the Malaysian wild card pair of Abdul Razak and Syed Naguib in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-3.

This is the second straight International Tennis Federation ( ITF) Futures doubles crown for Gonzales and Reese after they bagged the $ 25,000 F4 Futures held in Falun, Sweden last October 6.