Two veterans of the Philippine national tennis team resumed their campaign in the ATP tour by winning their respective matches in separate tournaments, Thursday morning (Manila time).
Treat Huey saw action in the opening round of the Mifel Open, an ATP 250 event in Los Cabos, Mexico.
The former Wimbledon doubles semifinalist teamed up with Steve Johnson of the United States. They scraped past the French pair of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in three gripping sets, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (5-7), 11-9.
Huey came back last week from a two-and-a-half-month lay-off due to an injury and crashed out of the first round of the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, USA. He averted an early exit this time around as he and Johnson advanced to the quarterfinals in Mexico.
Huey — who achieved a career-high world ranking of 18th, and Johnson — currently 139th in doubles in the ATP rankings, will next face Hunter Reese of the United States and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands.
Huey and Verbeek teamed up in six previous tournaments this year.
Ruben Gonzales, on the other hand, partnered with Hunter Johnson of the US. The two eked out a come-from-behind victory over a pair of youngsters, 18-year-old Leo Borg of Sweden and 20-year-old Otto Virtanen of Finland, in the first round of the Tampere Open, an ATP Challenger event held in Finland.
Gonzales and Johnson dropped serve twice before bowing in the first, 2-6. They bounced right back in the second set, 7-5, before leading all the way in the super tiebreak. They eventually closed out the match, 10-4.
Now on their fourth team-up this year, Gonzales and Johnson will be making their first semifinal appearance together as a doubles pair. They received a walk-over win in the quarterfinals.
