Taiwan and Thailand shared the spoils on the first day of their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II promotion playoff yesterday.
Thailand’s Kittiphong Wachiramanowong claimed the first singles rubber at the National Tennis Development Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand, but Taiwan fought back through Lee Kuan-yi in the second singles rubber.
World No. 1,205 Wachiramanowong hit eight aces on his way to a surprise 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-1 victory over Taiwanese world No. 447 Yang Tsung-hua in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Photo: AFP
The Thai saved five of seven break points and converted six of nine, winning 102 of the 188 points contested to put the hosts 1-0 up in the best-of-five contest for a place in Asia/Oceania Group I next year.
However, the visitors fought back in the second singles rubber, Lee building a 7-6 (7/3), 5-0 lead over world No. 987 Pruchya Isarow before an injury forced the Thai to retire after 1 hour, 43 minutes.
World No. 504 Lee saved four of five break points and converted three of four, winning 66 of the 115 points that were contested.
In today’s doubles rubber, Taiwanese duo Hung Jui-chen and Wang Chieh-fu are due to take on Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana, before the tie is to be decided in the reverse singles rubbers tomorrow.
In Group I, New Zealand raced to a 2-0 lead against Pakistan after dominating the opening singles rubbers.
Veteran Jose Statham, playing a record 25th Davis Cup tie, downed Muhammad Abid 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 to give the hosts a perfect start.
Tournament debutant Finn Tearney was even more emphatic, crushing Samir Iftikar 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 to leave Pakistan on the brink in the best-of-five tie.
The winner will remain in Asia/Oceania Group I, with the loser relegated to Group II.
In Sydney, Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic claimed straight-set victories to give Australia a commanding 2-0 lead over Slovakia after the opening day singles in their World Group playoff.
The 15th-ranked Kyrgios shrugged off recent hip problems to whip through Andrej Martin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, while the 21st-ranked Tomic completed a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 win over Jozef Kovalik.
Australia will stay in the premier World Group next year if they win one further match in the best-of-five rubber at Sydney’s Olympic Tennis Centre.
“A perfect start. We know it’s not over quite yet, but the boys did really well today,” Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt told reporters.
“They were big favorites coming into both singles, but you can’t take anything for granted in Davis Cup,” he said. “There’s a lot more pressure on as well and sometimes it’s tougher when you are a lot more fancied chance to go out there and get the job done.”
Kyrgios was expected to have little trouble with the world No. 127 Martin and cruised to victory in 1 hour, 40 minutes to take his Davis Cup singles record to 4-3.
It came just over a week after he was forced to quit his third-round US Open match against Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko with a hip injury.
The temperamental 21-year-old star showed little inconvenience to put away Martin, despite plugging up a nose bleed early in the final set.
“Everyone expects me to go out there and towel the guy, but it’s never as easy as that,” Kyrgios said. “I thought he played some great tennis today.”
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