By: Ariel Ian B. Clarito
Treat Huey and partner Frederik Nielsen of Denmark pulled off a shocker in the opening round of the Sardegna Open, Wednesday at Cagliari Tennis Club in Italy.
In straight sets, Huey and Nielsen defeated the third-seeded pair of Matthew Ebden of Australia and Divij Sharan of India, 6-1, 6-4, in the €408,000 ATP 250 event.
The Filipino and Danish duo took control early in the match after they broke serve, going up 3-1 in the first set. They then remained in control the rest of the way, pulling off a dominant win in the opening set.
Ebden, who just this February made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open; and Sharan, a former Wimbledon doubles quarterfinalist, came back strong in the second set and kept in step with Huey and Nielsen until the eighth game.
With the score tied at four games apiece, Huey and Nielsen broke serve for the third time in the match to go up 5-4. They then held on to win the next game and close out the match. The unseeded tandem also did not drop serve the entire match.
Huey, currently 119th in the world rankings, and Nielsen, ranked 62nd in the world, will face in the quarterfinals the wildcard Italian pair of Matteo Berretini, the 10th ranked singles player in the world, and his brother Jacopo who won a thriller in the opening round against Argentinians Guillermo Duran and Guido Pella, 5-7, 6-4, 10-8.
