Treat Huey and Indonesian Christopher Rungkat fell short against home crowd bets in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles Friday.
The Southeast Asian pair yielded to fellow wildcard entries Dane Sweeney and Li Tu, 7-6 (8), 6-4, in a match that lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
Huey and Rungkat almost clinched the opening round after breaking their opponents’ serve in the seventh game then took the eighth for a 5-3 lead.
But Sweeney and Tu quickly regained their composure to extend the round to a tiebreaker and then kept their momentum heading to the second frame.
Huey and Rungkat, both SEA Games gold medalists, were still gracious in defeat.
“Dream come true playing my first Grand Slam since 2018. It was a long road back but so worth it. Thanks partner,” Huey wrote on his Instagram account.
Huey’s best Grand Slam finish was a semifinal appearance at the 2016 Wimbledon with Belarusian Max Mirnyi.
He also made it to the 2016 Australian Open semis in the mixed doubles with Slovenian Andreja Klepac.