Huey, partner enter Paribas doubles final

MANILA, Philippines - The unseeded pair of Fil-Am Treat Huey and Polish Jerzy Janowicz continued their giant-slaying ways as they eked out a shock 7-5, 1-6, 12-10 victory over the duo of Polish Alexander Peya and Brazilian Bruno Soares to gatecrash into the finals of the BNP Paribas Open doubles yesterday.

Teaming up for the first time, Huey and Janowicz continued to impress, particularly in the third and deciding set when they won five of the eight breakpoints to overcome Peya and Soares, whose list of victims included second seed Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain in the second round.

The massive win set Huey and Janowicz up against the top-seeded tandem of Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States, who scrambled past American Scott Lipsky and Mexican Santiago Gonzales, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.

Huey, the country’s lead player in the Davis Cup, said they felt little pressure.

“We’re not expecting to make it to the finals. We just decided to play the last minute.  Our mentality is to just go out there to have some fun and play some tennis,” said Huey.

“The fact that we’re playing well is because we’re playing with no pressure and not much expectation from each other.  We just want to go out there and put up our best efforts. The key there is really to have fun,” Janowicz said.

Against the 34-year-old Bryan twins, Huey and Janowicz are like Davids playing the Goliaths.

While Huey and Janowicz, ranked 36th and 24th in the world, haven’t won a tournament yet, the Bryans have already won 13 Grand Slam victories, an Olympic gold medal plus some 69 more doubles tournaments.