Treat Huey and partner John-Patrick Smith of Australia survived a gripping battle on Friday (Saturday morning, Philippine time) as they prevailed over Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni of India, 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 10-7, in the semifinals of the Odlum Brown VanOpen held at the Hollyburn Country Club in Vancouver, Canada.
Huey and Smith appeared to be on their way to their third straight set victory after they broke their Indian foes twice in the opening set en route to a relatively easy win.
The Filipino and Australian pair had an opportunity to seize control of the second set when they had three break points in the 7th game with the score tied at 3-all.
Bhambri and Saketh, however, bounced back to save their serve and regain the lead which they never relinquished. In the tiebreak, it was all Bhambri and Saketh as they raced to a 5-0 advantage and only allowed the shell-shocked Huey and Smith two points.
In the third set super tiebreak, Huey and Smith still could not seem to get going as they saw themselves down at 2-4.
Just as Bhambri and Saketh probably thought the match was in the bag, Huey and Smith found their second wind and regained the lead for the first time since the first set by scoring four straight points, 6-4.
Bhambri and Saketh threatened when they inched closer at 7-8, but Huey and Smith showed calm resolve in closing out the match.
Huey and Smith pulled off the biggest upset in the tournament when they took out top seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow of the United States in the opening round, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. They followed it up with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 triumph in the quarterfinals over Aziz Dougaz of Tunisia and Antoine Escoffier of France.
Huey, formerly ranked 18th in the world and the 2022 SEA Games men’s doubles gold medalist, is seeking his third doubles title for the year in the pro tour. Huey and Smith will be facing third seeds Andre Goransson of Sweden and Ben McLachlan of Japan in the finals of the $159,000 ATP Challenger Event.
