Taiwan and the Philippines won a game apiece yesterday in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I relegation playoff in Manila.
In the first singles rubber, Taiwan’s Chen Ti rallied to beat Cecil Mamiit 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. In the second, Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang was overpowered by Treat Huey, with the Filipino going on to win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
The teams are scheduled to play a doubles rubber today and then two reverse singles tomorrow to decide who is relegated to Group II.
Photo: AFP
In Sydney, Swiss maestro Roger Federer came back from losing the first set to see off an inspired Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and level their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie.
Playing on grass at the Royal Sydney Golf Club, 18-year-old Bernard Tomic gave the home side an early lead when he beat Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Federer then found himself under enormous pressure after losing the first set to a typically dogged Hewitt and going down a break early in the second, but the world No. 3 dug deep to break back and win the set on a tiebreak, before pulling away to win 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-3.
Hewitt struggled to hold serve throughout the opener and never looked like breaking Federer until he seized his chance at 5-5, pouncing on loose play from the Swiss legend to take the advantage.
The Australian held his nerve as he served for the first set, taking the lead with two blistering cross-court forehands, then breaking Federer at the start of the second.
However, at 3-1 down in the second set Federer finally found his range and gradually took control, taking the set in a tiebreak and then securing dual breaks in the third and fourth.
Federer, who only arrived in Sydney on Wednesday after his US Open semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic, admitted being tired and off his game on what he described as an “old school” grass court.
“I all of a sudden realized this was much more difficult than I expected,” Federer said. “I thought it was going to be tough, but once on court I was a bit afraid of hitting my shots because of all the bad bounces out on this grass court and I was just very happy to see that I got so much better as the match went on.”
Hewitt, who has slipped to No. 199 in the world after a series of injuries, will be slight favorite against Wawrinka in the reverse pairings after a disappointing display from the Swiss No. 2.
Wawrinka started well against Tomic, but the young Australian relaxed after the first set, playing the kind of grass-court tennis that took him to the Wimbledon quarter-finals this year.
His mix of touch, flat shots and moments of pure power nullified anything the Swiss tried.
Today’s doubles will see Hewitt and Chris Guccione taking on Federer and Wawrinka.
In Tokyo, Kei Nishikori eased to a comfortable straight sets win against Rohan Bopanna to help Japan to a 2-0 lead over India in their Davis Cup World Group playoff.
In the opening rubber on the Ariake Coliseum hard court, Japan’s world No. 175 Yuichi Sugita caused an upset with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win over 65th-ranked Somdev Devvarman.
Nishikori, ranked 55th against Bopanna’s 559th, scored an early break in each set to chalk up a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory to put Japan two up.
Japan, who have only three wins and 18 defeats against India previously, have not made it to the Davis Cup’s World Group top tier since 1985. They advanced to the playoff by beating Uzbekistan 4-1 in July.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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