Huey, British pal smother seeded rivals, gain q’final

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am Treat Conrad Huey and Great Britain’s Dominic Inglot shocked third seed the Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, 7-6 (2), 6-0, to barge into the quarterfinal round of the US Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York early yesterday (Phl time).

The win made up for Huey’s loss in the mixed doubles with US’ Raquel Kops-Jones – 6-4, 6-7 (4) 5-10 to No. 8 Lizel Huber of the US and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in the second round.

Huey and Inglot, whose current world ATP rankings of 32nd and 38th, respectively, were way below the Nos. 4 and 5 standings of Lopez and Granollers.

The quarters stint was also Huey’s best in a Grand Slam event after a pair of third round efforts in last year’s French Open and in Wimbledon early this year.

And they beat the Spanish pair who made the US Open semis last year and had won three doubles titles – Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy, Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad in Gstaad, Switzerland and ATP World Tour Finals in London, England last year. Lopez and Granollers also had seven runner-up finishes.

Huey and Inglot will go against No. 10 Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil, who survived the unseeded but upset-conscious pair of Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and Mikhail Youzhny Russia, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4.

On their way to the quarters, Huey and Inglot downed Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), in the opening round and Czech Republic’s Lukas Dlouhy and Italy’s Daniele Bracciali, 6-3, 6-3.

Huey, set to lead the country’s Davis Cup team against New Zealand in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu next week, hopes to earn ATP points in a bid to improve his current world rankings of No. 32.