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Treat Huey at the International Premier Tennis League in Pasay. Getty Images (file photo)
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By Kristoffer Ed Bellen
MANILA—In spite of missing the Philippine Davis Cup team roster for the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone Group II first tie against Indonesia this weekend, Filipino doubles specialists Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales continue to bring glory for the country as they etched two separate successful runs so far in the inaugural Oracle Challenger Series of the 2018 ATP Challenger Tour in USA this week.
Huey teamed up with uprising American star Denis Kudla on Challenger Tour’s return to Southern California to reach the Newport Beach Challenger final while Gonzales got his own American partner, pairing up with Hunter Reese at the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas.
Huey buried his 2018 Australian Open first round miseries after making it to his first ever Challenger final this year while his Kudla, on the other hand, found a new motivation to deal with his own Round of 64 loss against Dominic Thiem Down Under as the duo marched through the championship match before bowing down against eventual winners Jamie Cerretani of USA and Leander Paes of India, 4-6, 5-7 on Monday.
Huey and Kudla went at the top half of the draw to take on an early challenge entering the first round after having faced with top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak, whom they upset in an outright domination, 6-2, 6-1.
The Filipino-American pair secured their slot at the semifinals after defeating the American wildcard pair of Reilly Opelka and tournament’s men’s singles champion and #NextGen star Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 6-3, before also tallying a two-setter shocker against third seeds Scott Lipsky and David Marrero, 6-4, 6-0 en route to the finale.
Gonzales and Reese, on the other hand, will battle Paes and Great Britain’s Joe Salisbury for a seat at the semifinals on Saturday after a 4-3, (ret.) triumph over Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul at the first round on Thursday.
Huey and Gonzales have been dismissed by the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) to play for the country this Saturday due to pending reimbursement issues, accounting to the expenditures that they both paid themselves in order to represent the Philippines in previous competitions.
The 32-year old Huey, a one-time Nitto ATP Finalist, currently ranks No. 67 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings while Gonzales, on the other hand, sits inside the Top 200 as the world’s no. 195.
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