Huey, Klepac gun for Aussie Open mixed doubles final

FILE — Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO /

A Filipino will be competing at the hallowed Rod Laver Arena of Melbourne Park.

Treat Huey, the only Filipino to reach the semifinals of a men’s tennis Grand Slam, partners with Andreja Klepac of Slovenia today in a bid to land a finals berth in the Australian Open mixed doubles event.

They will face American Coco Vandeweghe and Romanian Horia Tecau at 3 p.m. (12 noon in Manila), the first match scheduled at RLA.

“We will probably be the underdogs again but we will give them our best shot and see what happens,” said Huey, the 30-year-old pillar of the Lhuillier-Philippine Davis Cup team.

Philippine Tennis Association chair Jean Henri Lhuillier said they will be cheering for the Virginia-born Huey, whose mother Manina San Pedro, hails from Makati and now works as a consultant for the United Nations.

“Things are looking great for Philippine tennis,” said Lhuillier.

The 29-year-old Klepac is No. 23 in the world in doubles and playing with Huey for the first time in a Grand Slam event. They ousted Chan Yung-yan of of Chinese Taipei and Rohann Bopanna of India, 6-2, 7-5, in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Marc Anthony Reyes