Huey, Inglot drop Australian Open Final 4 bid

TREAT Huey (right) returns while Dominic Inglot looks on during their doubles match. AFP

Treat Huey of the Philippines and Dominic Inglot of Great Britain faded in the crucial point of the match and dropped a 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, decision Tuesday to unseeded American Eric Butorac and South African Raven Klaasen in the Australian Open men’s doubles quarterfinals.

Huey struggled to save two break points in the seventh game of the third set and he and his partner next squandered three break points in an energy-sapping eighth game that practically took the sting out of their game.

From then, Butorac and Klaasen, who bundled out dreaded top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the third round, scored eight straight points that included a break of Inglot’s serve before closing out with another love game for the win after two hours and 25 minutes on Show Court 2.

It was a stinging loss for the long-time pair from University of Virginia, who recovered from a break of serve to force and eventually win the first set tiebreak.

Huey was tested to the limit in the third set when Klaasen and Butirac, who abruptly ended the comeback narrative of Australian tandem Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, challenged him with two break points before going up 4-3.

Huey and Inglot then went up 40-0 on Butorac’s serve but lost all three set points that turned things irreversibly around.

Huey was looking to become the first Filipino to make a Grand Slam semifinal appearance.

He is set to fly to Sri Lanka to banner the Philippine Davis Cup team along with American-based Ruben Gonzales, Johnny Arcilla and Patrick John Arcilla in Group 2’s first round.