Treat Huey and Indonesia’s Christopher Rungkat ended their 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles campaign after bowing to Dane Sweeny and Li Tu of Australia, 6-7 (6-8), 4-6, Friday at the Kia Arena in Melbourne Park.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for the only Southeast Asian pair in the competition as they had plenty of opportunities to clinch the first set.
Huey and Rungkat stormed to a 5-3 advantage after breaking their opponents serve in the seventh game. Sweeny and Li then took the next three games to go up 6-5.
The set eventually went to a tiebreak which saw Huey and Rungkat come within an inch of closing after going up 6-3. The Australians refused to disappoint the local supporters as they turned things around and saved three set points on their way to a nerve-wracking opening set win.
Sweeny and Li continued their inspired play in the second set as they zoomed to a 5-1 lead as Huey and Rungkat struggled to get themselves back in the match. The Filipino and Indonesian pair managed to mount a comeback and close the gap to 4-5 but Sweeny and Li closed out the match by holding serve in the 10th game of the second set.
This is the farthest Huey has gone in a grand slam doubles event since 2016 when he made the semifinals of Wimbledon, the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, and the third round of the French Open.
