For the second straight time in an ATP Challenger finals, Filipino doubles specialist Treat Huey and John-Patrick Smith of Australia fell short after losing in three close sets.
Seeded fourth in the competition, Huey and Smith dropped a 5-7, 6-2, 10-5 heartbreaker to the top seeded American pair of Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons on Saturday (Sunday morning, Philippine time) in the men’s doubles finals of the $50,000 Atlantic Tire Championships held at the Cary Tennis Park in North Carolina, USA.
Withrow and Lammons finally exacted revenge after getting eliminated by Huey and Smith in the opening round of the Odlum Brown VanOpen in Vancouver, Canada, last August.
It was in the same tournament that Huey and Smith also reached the finals where they lost by the slimmest of margins to second seeds Andre Goransson of Sweden and Ben McLachlan of Japan, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 9-11.
On their way to the finals in North Carolina, Huey and Smith escaped a close one in the opening round against wildcard entries Martin Rocens of Latvia and Fons Van Sambeek of Netherlands, 2-6, 6-4, 12-10.
The Filipino and Aussie duo followed it up with straight set victories over American Hunter Reese and Dutch Sem Verbeek in the quarterfinals and Aidan McHugh of Great Britain and 23-year-old John McNally of the United States in the semifinals.
Huey will be back in the ATP tour this week. He will team up for doubles action with Hans Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico in the San Diego Open, an ATP250 event which will begin on Monday (Tuesday, Philippine time) at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, California, USA.
