The last weekend witnessed the completion of the first round of fixtures of the 2015 Davis Cup. The Asia Oceania Zone group 2 staged a total of four ties which yielded the following results.
Chinese Taipei beat Lebanon 5-0
Chinese Taipei came into the last two days of the tie with a commanding two match to nil lead and went on to secure the victory on Saturday as they won the doubles rubber. Chieh Fu Wang and Chih Jen Ho secured a relatively straight forward victory over the Lebanese pairing Karim Alayli and Nour Nehme 6-1 6-4 6-2. The win ensured the fact that the strong Chinese Taipei outfit would move forward to round 2 also meaning that Sundays reverse singles would consist of two dead rubbers. Although the win was guaranteed the Chinese Taipei side refused to make life any easier for the Lebanese team as they won the two matches with ease. Wang defeated Nehme 6-0 6-2 and Jui Hung beat Ibrahim Chahine 6-0 6-0 in order to ensure a thumping five match to nil victory.
Philippines beat Sri Lanka 5-0
A similar story to the one above took place in the Philippines as the home side crushed the Lankan hopes, courtesy a comfortable five match to nil win. Like the Chinese Taipei side they too came into Saturday’s doubles match with a 2-0 lead, knowing that a win will get them through to the next round. The win was completed by Francis Casey Alcantara and Treat Huey who beat Harshana Godamanna and Sharmal Dissanayake 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-4. The dead rubbers played on Sunday also went the way of the Philippines as Treat Huey beat Dissanayake 6-1 3-6 6-1 and Alcantara got the better of Dineshkanthan Thangarajah 6-2 6-3.
Indonesia beat Iran 5-0
Almost as if in a competition to keep up with Chinese Taipei and the Philippines, the Indonesian team dealt out a convincing 5-0 drubbing to an Iranian Team who had just gained promotion to group 2. After having won both singles matches on the first day Christopher Rungkat and David Susanto sealed the win in the doubles with an easy 6-0 6-4 6-1 win over Amirvala Madanchi and Anoosha Shahgholi on Saturday. The dead rubbers on Sunday were also won by the Indonesians via wins by Susanto and Sasongko who won their respective matches in straight sets.
Pakistan beat Kuwait 3-2
The closest tie of the group was contested by Pakistan and Kuwait who played their tie in Sri Lanka. The Lankan tennis fans were treated to some spectacular tennis as the players from both teams gave it their all over the course of the three days. Both teams came into Saturday’s doubles match after having secured a win each in the singles. Aisam Qureshi and Aqeel Khan from Pakistan took on the Kuwaiti pairing of Mohammad Ghareeb and Hassan Al Mousa. One break of serve was all it took in the first set as Qureshi and his partner played beautiful tennis to win the first set 6-3. From that point onwards it was expected to be one way traffic as the experience of the Pakistani pairing was sure to come to the forefront. However they were given a major scare as Ghareeb and his partner fought hard to win the second set 6-3 and race off to a 3-1 lead in the third set. It was at that point that Qureshi kicked his game up a notch as the Pakistani duo staged a remarkable fight back to win the set 6-3 taking them to a two set to one lead. The fourth set was a cakewalk as they went on to oust the Kuwaitis 6-1 leading to a final score line of 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1. The win also ensured the Pakistani team a crucial two match to one lead ahead of Sundays reverse singles. The first match up on Sunday was between Ghareeb and the Pakistani Davis Cup debutant Mohammed Akbar. Ghareeb came into the match as the strong favorite but to everyone’s surprise Akbar produced the tennis of his life to win the first set in a tie break. Ghareeb recovered well to win the second 6-3 only to be pushed back into a corner once again as Akbar won the third 6-1. Akbar needed to win just one more set to take his team through to the next round but it was not meant to be as Ghareebs strength and prowess on court enabled him to win the fourth set 6-3 and the decisive fifth set 6-2. The final score was 6-7(5) 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-2 in favor of the Kuwaiti player. With the tie placed at 2 matches apiece the final singles match was set to be the decider of what had been a wonderful tie. The responsibility lay in the hands of Aqeel Khan from Pakistan and Dawood Sayed Hashim who was the Kuwaiti Teams debutant. Ultimately it was the vast experience of Khan that won the day as he recorded a pivotal 6-2 6-1 6-2 win in order to take his team through to round 2.
Wins for the above mentioned teams led to them being able to secure places in the second round of the group where the match ups will be as follows.
Chinese Taipei vs The Philippines
Indonesia vs Pakistan
In addition to the above mentioned round 2 matches the countries who lost in the first round will engage in two relegation playoffs where the two losing teams will be demoted to group 3. The playoff matches will be as follows.
Sri Lanka vs Lebanon
Kuwait vs Iran
All of the above mentioned matches are scheduled to take place from the 17th – 19th of July 2015.
