Fil-American Treat Huey, ranked 80th in the world in men’s doubles, teamed up with long-time partner Somdev Devvarman of India to beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Jamie Murray of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-4, and barged into the semifinals of the $619,500 ATP Farmers Classic in Los Angeles.
On the hunt for a fifth doubles title, the 25-year-old Huey and fellow University of Virginia partner Devvarman earlier toppled top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares of Brazil, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the 16-pair field.
Huey and Devvarman will nextface the Israeli fourth seed tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Randy Ram, who ousted top grand slam player Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and Michael Russel of the US, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
“It’s an exciting development for Treat as he improved on his rankings and boosted his confidence coming into the Davis Cup next month and the Southeast Asian Games in November where he is confirmed to compete for the Philippines,”
said Philippine Tennis Association vice president for development Randy Villanueva.
Huey also made the quarterfinals of the Atlanta Open which, like the Farmer’s Classic, is also part of the US Open series of tuneup tournaments for the last grand slam of the year slated later this month in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Already, Huey and Devvarman are assured of the $9,770 prize for semifinalists aside from 90 ranking points.
Huey, who missed the Davis Cup tie against New Zealand in favor of chasing ATP points in big ATP World Tour events, has won doubles titles this year in Italy, Morocco, Colombia and Winnetka in the US.