Treat Huey. Photo by Marc Reyes.
SINGAPORE—With a big crowd egging them on no end, Treat Huey and Denise Dy displayed tenacity and flair to down the veteran Thailand tandem of Sonchat Ratiwatana and Peangtarn Plipuech, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, Sunday to gift the Philippines a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games mixed doubles tennis competition.
Although playing in the far Court 4 of Kallang Tennis Center, the defending champion pair didn’t disappoint as Huey and Dy combined well in the dark, gloomy weather to again prevent a golden shutout for the country in the sport.
“We played unbelievable points to win the first set and that gave us momentum,” said Huey, whose brilliant work at the net thrilled the largely Filipino crowd and flustered their Thai opponents.
The win was a big redeeming factor for Dy who paired up later with Katharina Lehnert and bowed to Thais Lertcheewakarn Noppawan and Wongteanchai Varatchaya in the women’s doubles finals, 6-3, 6-4.
All told, Thailand won six of seven events in the sport, which was not played in the 2013 edition in Burma (Myanmar).
Huey and Dy won the mixed doubles in 2011 in Indonesia.
“Denise was a big help out there, playing great points during the tiebreak (in the first set),” said Huey of Dy, who is a tennis coach at University of Iowa.
“I’m so glad I was able to come out,” said Dy, referring to the heavy tennis schedule as a result of the series of rain-delayed matches in the previous days.
“Yesterday was a bit tiring with three matches, but today I feel great and even more so when we got the gold.”
The Thais took a 2-0 lead on an early break in the second set, but Huey and Dy, devising plays with minimal talk but plenty of signals, broke back and held to tie the game at 2-2.
Then Huey displayed crowd-pleasing moves at the net as the Filipinos broke again for 4-3. “We refocused and asserted ourselves well,” said Huey.
The Filipinos held for 5-3 and allowed the Thais to hold serve for 5-4, before Huey served out for the championship at love.
The Filipinos also settled for silver in the men’s doubles Saturday and in the women’s team event early in the tournament. The bronze medalists were Patrombon and Lehnert in the singles, the men’s pairing of Huey and Francis Casey Alcantara and the men’s team.