MANILA, Philippines – Fil-Am Treat Conrad Huey and Brit Dominic Inglot showed steely nerves in the third and deciding set as they turned back Austrians Julian Knowle and Oliver Marach, 6-3, 3-6, 10-4, to seize its first doubles title in the year in the Swiss Indoors Basel in Switzerland Sunday night.
Huey and Inglot, ranked 25th and 31st in the Association of Tennis Professionals but came here as unseeded, thus went home with their first crown of the year after a pair of second place performances in Dusseldorf, Germany and Winston-Salem, North Carolina and a quarterfinal finish in the US Open.
For Huey, who is the spearhead of the Phl's Davis Cup squad, it was his third runner-up effort in doubles after he also teamed up with brief partner Polish Jerzy Janowicz in Shanghai, China early in the year.
The win in the week-long ATP500 event sent Huey zooming from No. 25 to his personal best No. 23 while Inglot leapt from No. 31 to another career-best No. 29.
Along the way, Huey and Inglot shocked second pick Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Roger of the Netherlands, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8, in the first round, Argentina's Horacio Zeballos and Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the quarters and Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut of France, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), in the semis.
The Huey-Inglot duo also put an end to the giant-slaying ways of Marach and Knowle, who eliminated top seed Rohan Bopanna of India and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarters and No. 3 Mariusz Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in the semis.