MANILA, Philippines – Fil-Australian Lizette Cabrera and Fil-Am Treat Huey ended their campaigns in the 2022 Australian Open after falling in the second round on Friday, January 21.
After a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win in the opening round, the pair of Cabrera and fellow Aussie Priscilla Hon quickly fell to the No. 2-ranked Japanese duo of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, 6-3, 6-2.
Despite a fine 2-1 start from the Aussies, the Japanese came back with a vengeance, and steamrolled ahead with four straight games, capped with a love game to clinch the 5-2 lead.
Not even a Cabrera-Hon comeback to trim the deficit to 3-5 was enough, as Aoyama and Shibahara quickly closed out the set for good, 6-3. That four-game streak was all the momentum the Japanese needed to set the tone in the second set with a 3-1 lead.
Although both pairs forced a total of eight advantages in the final game, a pair of untimely errors spelled doom for the Aussie duo, resulting in a 6-2 match win for the Japanese.
Over at the men’s doubles division, the 36-year-old Huey and his Indonesian partner Christopher Rungkat put up a better fight overall, but still fell to the Aussie pair of Dane Sweeny and Li Tu in a heartbreaker, 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Although Huey and Rungkat stormed back with three games in the opening set to turn a 2-3 deficit to a 5-3 lead, Sweeny and Tu orchestrated a three-game fightback of their own to lead, 6-5.
After Huey and Rungkat forced a 6-6 tiebreaker, they again got on the cusp of winning the set by darting out to a 6-3 lead. However, that was as far as they went as the Aussies pulled out a stunning 5-0 barrage for the 7-6 (8) finish.
Likely winded by the heartbreaking loss, Huey and Rungkat got dominated, 1-5, to start the second set. Their late three-game comeback from that point fell just short of the mark as Sweeny and Tu wrapped up the match, 6-4, to send their opponents home.
The 24-year-old Cabrera also took part in the mixed doubles category alongside fellow Aussie Alex Bolt, but the pair suffered a quick first-round exit last Thursday, January 20, at the hands of Kiwi duo Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus. – Rappler.com
