Philippine Davis Cup team doubles specialist Treat Huey and his partner Travis Parrott of the United States have won the doubles title at the Odlum Brown Vanopn presented by Invesco in Vancouver, Canada.
Huey and Parrott who were seeded No. 2 in the ATP Challenger tournament defeated No. 3 seeds Jordan Kerr of Australia and David Martin of the United States 6-2/1-6/16-14 in the finals.
They were favored by a walkover in the semi finals when the tandem of Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Bobby Reynolds pulled out after Reynolds suffered a left oblique strain in their quarter finals match.
Huey who soared to No. 70 in the ATP world rankings after his sixth challenger win in the last year had earlier overcome the British pair of Colin Fleming and James Ward in the quarter finals in straight sets 6-4/6-4. Ward went on to win the men?s singles title after beating hometown favorite Pospisil in the semi finals and Robbie Ginepri of the US by walkover in the finals .
Philippine Tennis Association Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva told the Inquirer ?we expect Treat?s rankings to enter the top 60 soon because of his great showing this week.? Villanueva said "it is one hundred percent certain that Huey will be here to represent the Philippines in the Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei. " The tie will be played at the picturesque Plantation Bay in Cebu on September 16, 17, 18.
It looked like Huey and Parrott would breeze to victory after winning the opening set of the finals 6-1 but were stunned by Kerr and Martin who roared back to take the second set by an identical 6-1 score, setting up a nail-biting final set to win $6,200 in prize money.
Huey and Parrott held their nerve to ultimately come through in a lengthy third set super tiebreak 16-14.
The Odlum Brown VanOpen presented by Invesco is known to consistently launch players to the top of Grand S lam tennis and many top players including Britain?s Andy Murray often include the VanOpen as part of their US Open preparations.
The President and CEO of Tennis Canada, Michael Downey said ?The Odium Brown VanOpen just keeps getting better even though its already unquestionably the best challenger in all of North America.?
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