Filipino Davis Cupper Treat Huey joined hands with Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz to down American top players James Blake and Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-2, Wednesday to barge into the men’s doubles semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
It was a big triumph for the 27-year-old spearhead of the Philippine team and Janowicz, who earlier ousted world No. 3 Andy Murray and his brother Jamie, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1,000, a major stop in the circuit for the world’s crème dela crème.
The wild-card pairing of Blake and Fish, mainstays of the United States Davis Cup squad, tried to impose their power against Huey and Janowicz, who successfully kept the tempo down with their steady play.
Huey, who steered the country to a Davis Cup first-round win over Syria last month in Lapu Lapu City, is looking for his first title this year and a significant boost in his world ranking. He is now at No. 36.
The lefty Huey and the 22-year-old righthander Janowicz drubbed Romania’s Victor Hanescu and Germany’s Frank Moser, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round.
They will next face the winners of the match pitting Briton Colin Fleming and Aussie Paul Hanley against Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil.
If victorious, Huey and Janowicz would likely meet top seeds and US doubles superstars Bob and Mike Bryan, who survived Lucasz Kubot of Poland and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, 10-7, in the quarterfinals. Marc Anthony Reyes