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MANILA, Philippines – Filipino doubles specialist Treat Huey teamed up with American Denis Kudla to win on Sunday, March 20 (Monday, March 21, Manila time) the Arizona Tennis Classic held at the Phoenix Country Club in Arizona, United States.
Huey and Kudla pulled off a three-set thriller over Oscar Otte and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the finals of the $159,360 ATP Challenger 125 event, 7-6 (10-8), 3-6, 10-6.
From the get-go, Huey and Kudla found their power-hitting German rivals a tough nut to crack. The Filipino and American duo battled back from a service break in the opening set to force a tiebreak. They then saved 3 set points before prevailing in the exciting first set, 10-8.
Otte and Struff, who upset the world No. 1 doubles pair of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the semifinals, stamped their class in the second set, which they bagged with relative ease to force a third-set super tiebreak. Huey and Kudla, though, were in control for much of the deciding set as they led all the way and closed out the match with a score of 10-6.
In their march to the finals as an unseeded entry, Huey and Kudla dispatched three higher-ranked opponents.
They defeated doubles world No. 88 John-Patrick Smith of Australia and Nicholas Monroe of the US in straight sets in the opening round. Huey and Kudla then surprised No. 3 seeds Andreas Mies of Germany and Max Purcell of Australia in three sets in the quarterfinals before they toppled world No. 39 Austin Krajicek of the United States and world No. 74 Hans Hach-Verdugo of Mexico, also in three sets, in the semifinals.
Sunday was a double celebration for Kudla as he also emerged champion of the singles competition.
This was the first ATP Challenger title for Huey, currently at No. 153 in the world doubles ranking, since March 2020 when he won an ATP Challenger event in Split, Croatia.
A former world No. 18 and Wimbledon doubles semifinalist, Huey has committed to see action for the Philippine national tennis team in the Southeast Asian Games scheduled this May in Vietnam. – Rappler.com
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