CONCEPCION, February 19, 2021
Top seeds Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos have booked their spot in the doubles final of the Dove Men & Care Challenger Concepcion without playing a match.The Brazilian duo received three walkovers en-route to the title match of the $52,080 ATP Challenger clay-court tournament, held at the Club de Campo Bellavista in Concepcion in Chile.
Portuguese Joao Domingues and Brazilian Felipe Meligeni withdrew from the match in the opening round due to neck problems of Meligeni. In the second round, Emilio Gomez from Ecuador was forced to pull out of the match alongside his Spanish partner Carlos Gomez Herrera with a right food injury. Then, the Chilean tandem of Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo withdraw from the semi-finals with Barrios Vera citing shoulder problems.
“This has never happened to me. Wining three matches by walkover. It was a little bit of luck, but we are ready for the final and we want to play a good match,” said Orlando Luz. “If that benefits us or hurts us? We arrived less tired, with less stress from not playing, but at the same time without the rhythm of the game,” the former junior World No. 1 added.
Galdos & Hidalgo come back from a set down
Luz and Matos will take on Sergio Galdos from Peru and Diego Hidalgo from Ecuador. The No. 2 seeds only received one walkover in the first round. They fought past Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos from Bolivia in the stage of the final four teams 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 on Friday. The encounter lasted one hour and 25 minutes.
#SonqoTenis | ¡A la final!🎾🤩
Sergio Galdos 🇵🇪 y Diego Hidalgo 🇪🇨 vencieron 3-6; 7-5 y 10-7 al dúo 🇧🇴 conformado por B. Arias y F. Zeballo, y clasificaron a la final del Challenger de Concepción.
(1/2) Y Sonqo, consulta, ¿A quiénes se enfrentarán?👇🏾 Hilo
📸 @ChallConcepcion pic.twitter.com/HZpERLtzqR
— SONQO Deportes Perú (@Sonqodeportes) February 19, 2021
“I think we couldn’t have had a better preparation than this match today. They played better than us and we had to put up with their level, they outplayed us in the first set. There was a lot of wind and that also influenced the match, but I think we knew how to take the match to the decisive moments,” said Galdos and added: “I think it was the best way to prepare for the final.”
