Mauthausen (Austria) – The Brazilian partnership formed by Orlando Luz and Fernando Romboli debuted with victory in the Mauthausen challenger, on clay courts in Austria. This Wednesday they beat the Swede Filip Bergevi and the Dutch Mick Veldheer by 6/2 and 6/4 in 1h10 of play.
At 35 years old, Fernando Romboli occupies 89th place in the ATP doubles rankings, one position below the best mark of his career. Orlando Luz, 26, from Rio Grande do Sul, is currently 102nd in the world and has a personal record of 90th position, achieved in September 2021. The victory in his debut earns the Brazilians 20 ATP points.
The opponents in the quarter-finals will be local guests Neil Oberleitner and Joel Schwaerzler. The Austrian tournament gives 100 points to the champions, 60 to the runners-up and 36 to the semi-finalists. Provisionally, Luz is returning to the top 100, but the ranking will only be updated on May 20th, after the May Masters 1000.
Heide challenges seed 6 in search of quarters
Brazilian representative in the singles bracket, Gustavo Heide from São Paulo will play this Thursday, around 7am (Brasília time) in the round of 16. After having won his debut match last Tuesday, Heide, 22 years old and 182nd in the ranking, faces the 31-year-old Slovakian Jozef Kovalik, 6th seed in the event and 160th place.
In case of victory, he will face in the quarterfinals the winner of the match between Argentine Roman Burruchaga, 2nd seed in the event and 149th in the world, or the experienced 33-year-old Austrian Gerald Melzer, who was 68th in the ranking in 2016, but today is only the 497th place.
