PHILIPPINES FACES TOUGH CHINESE-TAIPEI SQUAD IN 2ND ROUND OF DAVIS CUP TIE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 08 Mar 2015
The Philippines and Chinese-Taipei who both clinched their Asia Oceania Group II Davis Cup ties with victories in the doubles for an unassailable 3-0 lead will face each other in Taipei in the second round from July 17-19.
The consensus is the Philippines will have a tough time against the Chinese-Taipei team who find themselves in Zone Group II for the first time since 2003 after falling to New Zealand in a relegation play-off last October.
The Taiwanese cruised into the second round with a dominating performance against Lebanon at the Kaohsiung Yangming tennis courts with No. 1 Lu Yen-Hsun who is ranked No. 59 in the world and Hung Jui-chen ranked 796 dropping just three games on their way to winning the opening day?s singles matches before Ho Chih-jen who is ranked No, 1033 and Wang Chieh-fu who is ranked No.658 in the doubles won in straight sets against Lebanon?s Karim Alayli and Nour Nehme 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The Filipino doubles pair of Treat Huey who is ranked No. 60 in the world and Pepperdine University standout Francis Casey ?Nino? Alcantara faced a stubborn Sri Lanka tandem of youngsters Sharmal Dissanayake and Dinesh Thangarajah who won the first set 6-3 and were leading 2-0 in the second before Huey and Alcantara lifted their game to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-2 and set up a deciding fourth set.
The Filipinos breezed to a 5-2 lead but the Sri Lankans never gave up and clawed back to within one at 4-5 before Huey sealed the win with a sizzling ace, his fourth of the match after a tired Dissanayake committed three straight double faults in a total of 12 for the match.
Harshana Godamanna who played some superb tennis to win the first two sets in the opening singles match against the Philippines No. 1 PJ Tierro 7-5, 6-3 before falling apart as an elbow injury and a lack of practice in recent months took its toll even as Tierro lifted his game to often spectacular heights and took the next three sets 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 to give the Philippines a much needed boost before Ruben Gonzales played near flawless tennis to rout 18 year old Dissanayake in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
Godamanna told the New Standard/Viva Sports that the Philippines is ?really a good team and Sri Lanka is still one or two steps behind? and noted that all four Filipino players are active and predicted the tie against Chinese-Taipei will be ?very tough but pretty close.?
Team captain Rohan De Silva conceded that the Philippines was ?the better team? but that Sri Lanka ?had our chances but couldn?t make the most of it.?
He said that ?with three guys (Huey. Gonzales and Alcantara) playing pro tennis in the US he expects the Philippines ?to go all the way.?
RP team captain Roland Kraut although obviously pleased with the outcome emphasized that our players ? need to impose themselves right away? pointing to the sluggish starts by Tierro in the opening day singles where he dropped the first two sets and Huey and Alcantara who lost the first and were down 0-2 in the second before coming back to win the crucial doubles match.
The renowned supporter of Philippine tennis and the Davis Cup team, Jean Henri Lhuillier said he is ?looking forward to the next tie? against Chinese-Taipei whom he described as being ?very good with a very solid doubles pair? but hopes ?we can create an upset.?
Lhuillier added ?with the caliber of the players we have and the experience that Treat (Huey) and Ruben (Gonzales) from playing the ATP circuit, puts maturity into the team. We are looking forward to a good match? against Chinese-Taipei.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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