The Philippines’ top doubles specialists saw action in two separate international tournaments and earned contrasting results in their opening round matches on Tuesday, February 16 (Wednesday, February 17, Philippine time).
National team veteran and current world No. 120 Treat Huey, together with his Dutch partner Sem Verbeek, got off to a roaring start in the €44,800 Biella Challenger Indoor in Italy.
Philippine Davis Cup mainstays and veteran international campaigners Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales, however, could not shake off the rust of a nearly year-long layoff in the ASC BMW $25,000 World Tennis Tour in Naples, Florida.
Huey and Verbeek, the 140th ranked doubles player in the ATP rankings, outgunned in straight sets the 3rd seeded pair of Andre Goransson of Sweden and David Pel of Netherlands, 7-5, 6-4.
Pel and Goransson, 79th and 80th, respectively, in the world rankings, were coming of an ATP Challenger title win last January in Istanbul, Turkey but could not get going against the in-form Treat and Verbeek, who themselves were coming off 3 consecutive ATP Challenger events semifinal finishes.
The unseeded Filipino and Dutch duo will look to make their fourth semis appearance in 4 weeks as they await in the quarterfinals the victor of the duel between hometown bets Thomas Fabbiano and Matteo Gigante, both ranked outside the top 300 in the ATP standings, and Italian teens Luca Nardi and Giolio Zeppieri.
Alcantara and Gonzales, on the other hand, failed to pull off an upset against American 3rd seeds Alejandro Gomez of Colombia and Israel Ore, 4-6, 6-1, 10-1, in the US tournament.
The Filipino pair broke their opponents’ serve twice to take the 1st set, 6-4. But it was all Gomez and Ore after that as the Filipino tandem lost the next two in lopsided fashion.
Alcantara and Gonzales will seek to bounce back next week as they are scheduled to see action in another $25,000 ITF event in Naples, Florida. – Rappler.com
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