Filipino tennis star Treat Huey and British partner Dominic Inglot wore down Italians Andreas Seppi and Potito Starace, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, Saturday to progress to the third round of the Australian Open men’s doubles event.
Huey went back to Court 15 later in the afternoon with American partner Raquel Kops-Jones but lost, 6-2, 6-3, in the mixed doubles first round battle to second seeds Rohan Bopanna (India) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia).
It was nevertheless a small setback for the 28-year-old Huey who is now ranked 22nd in the world and is seeking to become the first Filipino to win a Grand Slam event.
Seeded 12th, Huey and the power-serving Inglot leaned on their serves, dishing out a combined 16 aces against the Italians’ four.
They also knocked in 16 winners throughout the one hour and 41 minutes of play.
Huey and Inglot will gun for a quarterfinal berth against seventh seeds Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi, who eliminated Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins of Great Britain, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Another win by Huey and Inglot would equal their best Grand Slam result of quarterfinals they accomplished in last year’s US Open.
But that would be against either top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, or Eric Butorac (US) and Raven Klaasen (South Africa) who ousted famed Australian pair Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt.