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Source: gmanews.tv

-- Filipino tennis aces Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey positioned themselves for more gold medals as they reach the men's doubles finals and forged an all-Filipino finale in the singles play of the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos.

Mamiit and Treat Huey set a collision course with the Thai twins of Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana for the men’s doubles gold, an encore of their earlier battle for the men's team event gold.

The two Fil-Am bets slipped past another Thai pair in Danai Udomchoke and Kittiphong Wachiramanawong, 7-5, 7-6, in their semifinal duel at the tennis court of the National Sports Complex.

For their part, the Ratiwatana siblings made short work of Indonesia’s Nesa Artha and Christopher, 6-2, 6-4, in the other semis match to forge a highly-anticipated rematch with their Filipino nemesis.

Mamiit and Huey scored a dramatic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over the Thai twins during the deciding doubles to bag the men’s team gold last Saturday in a match where the final set needed almost two hours to be completed.

“It’s a rematch between us and Thailand and we know they’re aching to get back at us," said team manager Randy Villanueva. “But we’re ready for them."

Sure gold in men's singles

The 23-year-old Huey also advanced into the gold medal match of the men’s singles by ousting Udomchoke, 7-5, 7-6, 8-6, before Mamiit made it an all-Filipino finals by beating Cambodia’s Tan Nysan, 6-1, 6-2.

Not as fortunate were lady netters Denise Dy and Riza Zalameda, who both settled for the bronze after losing their respective semifinal matches in the ladies singles.

Dy, silver medalist in the mixed doubles two years ago in Thailand, played through with a left ankle injury to bow out against Lavinia Tananta of Indonesia, 7-5, 6-4, while another Indon, Ayu Fani Damayanti, booted out Zalameda, 6-3, 6-2.

Still in the hunt for the gold are the Mamiit-Dy and Huey-Zalameda tandems in the mixed doubles and the Dy-Zalameda pair in the women’s doubles.