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.
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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.
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