Treat Huey and Australian partner Carsten Ball downed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and Frank Moser of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, Thursday and barged into the second round of the men’s doubles of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Fil-American mainstay of the PH Davis Cup team is hoping to gain more ranking points to qualify for the London Olympics. He is ranked 55th in the world in doubles.
Although teaming up for the first time with Ball, the last-minute partnership proved solid enough against Karlovic and Moser in an action-packed match that saw the winning tandem using patience and strategy against the power of their rivals.
Karlovic and Moser had more aces, 3-1, based on the match statistics provided by the Australian Open website. But Huey and Ball were up on most departments.
Huey and Ball had more accurate first serve with 77 percent as against 66 percent, and had better percentage of winning on first serve, 75 percent compared to their rivals’ 72 percent.
Huey and Ball also had three winners against their opponents’ one, and converted two of five breakpoint chances versus 0-of-3 by Karlovic and Moser.
It will be a lot harder in the next round, however, as they will take on Indian fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna, who booted out local bets Matthew Ebden and Chris Guccione, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Bhupati, 37, is a two-time Grand Slam winner in doubles (2002 US Open and 2001 French Open) with different partners, and is ranked No. 8 in the world in doubles. The 31-year-old Bopanna, 8th in doubles in the world, was 2010 runner-up in US Open with a different partner.