The Philippines fought back yesterday against Taiwan in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II second-round match, cutting the hosts’ lead to 2-1 in Kaohsiung.
Doubles world No. 163 Ruben Gonzales and world No. 58 Treat Huey defeated Taiwanese pairing world No. 159 Lee Hsin-han and world No. 113 Peng Hsien-yin 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) in a closely contested rubber at the Kaohsiung Yangming Tennis Courts to cut the visitors’ deficit to a single rubber.
However, Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun will be confident of making certain of the victory at 11am today, when he is due to take on Jeson Patrombon in the first of two reverse singles rubbers, with the hosts’ Hung Jui-chen due to face Patrick-John Tierro in the second.
Photo: EPA
The winners are to face Pakistan on Sept. 18, with promotion to Asia/Oceania Group I next year the prize.
Pakistan completed a 3-1 victory over Indonesia in their second-round match on Thursday.
In the Asia/Oceania Group II playoffs on Friday, Sri Lanka took a 2-0 lead against Lebanon, while Iran and Kuwait were tied 1-1. The losers of the two playoffs are relegated to Asia/Oceania Group III next year.
WORLD GROUP
Retiring former Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth combined to defeat Kazakhstan in their Davis Cup doubles tie yesterday to keep Australia’s semi-final hopes alive after their young guns flopped in the opening singles.
Australia were 2-0 down after hot-headed tyro Nick Kyrgios and 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis wilted on the grass-courts in tropical Darwin on Friday.
However, 34-year-old Hewitt and 68th-ranked Groth ensured the quarter-final would head into a third day by grinding out a tense 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win over Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
For Hewitt, who has announced he will quit tennis after the Australian Open in January next year, it was especially pleasing.
“It’s up there,” Hewitt said when asked what the win meant. “I haven’t played too many doubles matches at 2-0 down when the pressure’s on.”
“Sam and I combined really well today,” he added. “This is Grothy’s first win in a live rubber, so it’s fantastic to be out here to enjoy it with him.”
The gutsy win from Davis Cup stalwart Hewitt and the much-improved Groth cheered local fans after a tumultuous week dominated by the controversial Bernard Tomic.
Tomic, who was kicked out of the team for an extraordinary outburst against Australian tennis officials at Wimbledon, was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest on Thursday following complaints over a noisy penthouse party at his Miami Beach hotel.
Australia Davis Cup captain Wally Masur said he might shake up selections for the reverse singles after Kyrgios and Kokkinakis’ struggles on Friday.
“Obviously form and confidence are important,” Masur told local media. “I was really impressed with these two guys [Hewitt and Groth] today. They had great clarity; they knew exactly what they had to do with our backs against the wall.”
“It was a really good team effort, so I do have decisions to make based on the results over the weekend, and hopefully we get it right,” Masur said.
Masur said he felt Kyrgios might be feeling the strain after weeks of controversy following his performance at Wimbledon, where he was accused of poor sportsmanship during matches and giving up during his fourth round exit.
“It takes its toll. I kind of feel sorry for Nick in a way because it was almost a little bit of hysteria about some of the stuff that went on at Wimbledon,” Masur said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that