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THEY—the
Philippine Davis Cup team—had the confidence, grit and
the home crowd advantage, of course, to upset Japan.
But during the tie, the Japanese were
just too skillful, more experienced and more conditioned
as they swept the Filipinos, 5-0, in the Asia/Oceania
Group I first-round tie during the weekend at the
Rizal Memorial
Tennis Center.
Sunday’s matches were just a mere
formality.
Go Soeda, Japan ’s No. 1, beat Johnny
Arcilla, 6-3, 6-2, while young star 19-year-old Yuichi
Sugita defeated Eric Taino, 6-2, 6-3.
JOHNNY ARCILLA tries to
hold fort but yields eventually to Go Soeda. -- ROY
DOMINGO
The tie, actually, was reduced to a
best-of-three—instead of the best-of-five. That’s
because the Japanese had already clinched the tie
Saturday as the team of Soeda and No. 2 Takao Suzuki
earned a hard-fought 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5), 6-4 win
over the celebrated duo of Cecil Mamiit and Taino.
Japan had a good opening by snapping
Mamiit’s 13-match unbeaten run in Davis Cup play Friday
afternoon, losing to Suzuki, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2,
while Patrick John Tierro surprised everyone but failed
to keep up and lost to a ranked Soeda, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2,
2-6, 6-4, in the first singles match in the morning.
“I did not expect to win like this
[sweep],” said the 48-year-old Japan nonplaying captain
Eiji Takeuchi. “I guess we worried too much. But I guess
it was very close in the beginning. The matches lasted
for almost four hours before we won on Saturday.”
Japan will face the winner of the
Uzbekistan-India tie while the Philippines will host the
loser in a relegation tie in April.
The clincher—the doubles match between
Soeda/Suzuki and Mamiit/Taino—was actually an uphill
battle for the Japanese who had to fight off three set
tiebreaks.
“I knew they will play well after I saw
them in the 2006 Asian Games. They did so much effort in
the game. But I think we were better conditioned than
them. It was a tough match,” said Takeuchi.
The seventh game of the fourth set was
the turning points. With the game tied, 3-3, and the
Filipinos at break point, Soeda aced to force deuce—the
first of four. Errors were Taino’s and Mamiit’s undoing
afterward as Japan held serve.
The Japanese finally took the match in
the 10th game with the Filipinos again succumbing to a
series of errors that culminated with a Taino double
fault.
“It was not my weekend,” said the
31-year-old Mamiit, who lost to the serve-and-volleying
Suzuki, also 31, in the second singles match Friday.
“They dug dig. They came up with great shots and we made
mistakes. But it was not like we were blown away. It was
close all throughout.”
The lefty Taino, who suffered from
flu-like symptoms the weekend prior to the tie, did what
he could in chalking four aces in the doubles match,
including several service winners.
“It was hard to say if I got affected.
It was a long match. I’m getting tired. I don’t know if
it is because of the flu or the long, intense match. The
flu did not really cross my mind. All my energy was
dedicated to this game,” said Taino, 32.
Not even the weather, which was said
will come into play in favor of the Filipinos, did not
go their way. It was cloudy all day Friday with a little
bit of sunshine Saturday.
“I would have hoped that it should have
been a little bit hotter to our advantage but it wasn’t.
But I’m not regretting our loss. We just played a tough
team,” said Mamiit.
“They prepared hard for the tie,
training in
Hawaii
for a few months to get acclimatize to tropical
weather,” said Philippine nonplaying team captain Martin
Misa. |
