Treat Huey and John-Patrick Smith of Australia have made their second straight finals as a tandem on Friday (Saturday morning, Manila time) in the Atlantic Tire Championships.
The veterans Huey and Smith defeated a duo of youngsters, 22-year-old Aidan McHugh of Great Britain and 23-year-old John McNally of the United States, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, in the semifinals of the $50,000 ATP Challenger event held at the outdoor hard courts of the Cary Tennis Park in North Carolina, USA.
One service break was all it took to create the separation between the two pairs in the match that ended in straight sets but was closely contested from start to finish.
It was a déjà vu of sorts for Huey and Smith. In the quarterfinals on Thursday against American Hunter Reese and Dutch Sem Verbeek, Huey and Smith won by almost the same score, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.
Treat and Smith, seeded fourth in the tournament, will be facing top seeds Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons of the United States in the finals on Saturday.
Withrow and Lammons will not only be going for the title, but they will also be seeking some payback. In the Odloum Brown VanOpen in Vancouver, Canada, held last August, the top seeds Withrow and Lammons were eliminated in straight sets in the opening round by Treat and Smith,
Treat will be gunning for his third doubles title for the year in the ATP Challenger circuit.
He teamed up with American Denis Kudla last March to win the Arizona Tennis Classic. A month after, he and fellow Filipino Ruben Gonzales crowned themselves doubles champions of the Savannah Challenger in Georgia, USA.
