Huey, pal get door in doubles

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino ace Treat Huey bombed out of his last event in the 2017 Australian Open as he and Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac took an early exit in the mixed doubles hostilities at Melbourne Park yesterday.

Huey and Klepac failed to land the finishing kick and yielded a 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 8-10 defeat to South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and the Netherlands’ Michaela Krajicek in the first round to kiss their bid goodbye. 

Huey and Klepac, who took the opening set but dropped the second, actually enjoyed an 8-5 lead in the super tiebreak. But a forehand unforced error in the 14th game shifted the momentum to Klaasen and Krajicek, who went on to unload five successive winners to complete their come-from-behind win.

The mixed doubles exit came a day after Huey and Belarus partner Max Mirnyi stumbled in the second round of men’s doubles play. The 10th seeded pair absorbed a 6-7 (10), 6-7 (5) reversal to unseeded Aussies Sam Groth and Chris Guccione last Saturday to crash out.

With Huey out, junior netter AJ Lim is left to carry Phl’s flag in the season-opening Grand Slam event.

Lim got through to the Round of 32 of the boys’ singles competitions following a 6-4, 6-4 disposal of Taipei’s Yin Bang Shuo in the opener also last Saturday.

The 17-year-old Lim, who is set for a Davis Cup outing next month, faces France’s Maxence Broville in today’s Round of 32 .

Lim is also entered in boys’ doubles, where he and the US’ Alexandre Rotsaert are penciled to open their bid against Taipei’s Yu Hsiou Hsu and China’s Lingxi Zhao, the No. 4 seeds.