|
Davis Cup First Round 2012 - Preview
The first round of Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for 2012 will take place from 10 to 12 February. Pacific Oceania take on Philippines in Iriga City, Philippines, while the other Oceania nation teams Australia and New Zealand are at home to China and Uzbekistan respectively.
The Pacific Oceania team of Michael Leong, Cyril Jacobe, Danny Llarenas and Aymeric Mara have a very tough task ahead of them against an experienced and well performed Philippines line-up. The PHI team comprises Treat Huey who is a regular in doubles on the ATP Tour, Ruben Gonzales, Johnny Arcilla and Jeson Patrombon who recently was one of the world's top junior players. The tie will be played indoors on a plexipave hardcourt. Play starts each day from 3pm local time in Philippines so results will not be posted on the OTF website until the next morning.
Australia play China on grasss in Geelong and have named a very strong team. Bernard Tomic and lleyton hewitt are both coming off very strong perormances at the Australian Open and have proved to be very good players on grass. They are backed up by Chris Guccione and Matthew Ebden with Pat Rafter as captain.
New Zealand will also play at a new venue, indoors in Tauranga against a formidable Uzbekistan team who they lost to in Uzbekistan last year.Michael Venus, Artem Sitak, Rubin Statham and Dan King-Turner make up the NZL line-up.
|
Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Junior Champs - Korea
The final of the boys singles of the Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Championships played at Jeju-Do in Korea was an all Australia affair with Wimbledon Junior Champion Luke Saville facing off against fellow Australian Andrew Harris, the winner of the Oceania Junior Championships in Lautoka in August.
Saville won a tightly contested match in straight sets 6-3 6-4 to take the title. Saville is pictured on the left with Harris.
The best performed player from Oceania in the girls singles was Emily Fanning from New Zealand. Fanning won the OCJC girls singles in August and reached the semi-finals in Korea. She went down to Su Jeong Jang (KOR) 6-2 6-3 in the semis.
In doubles Fanning combined with her Australian partner Abbie Myers to reach the final where the pair were beaten by the Japanese combination of Hikino and Kowase 6-0 6-4. Fanning and Myers (pictured left and right) were also runners-up in the girls doubles at the OCJC in August.
Australia also completely dominated the boys doubles with both their pairs making the final. Nick Kyrgios and James Frawley upset favourites Saville and Harris in a thrilling match, coming from a set down to win in the super tiebreak. The final score was 1-6 6-4 (10-7). Kyrgios (left) and Frawley are pictured with their trophies. Harris was also runner-up in the OCJC boys doubles in August.
Davis Cup - Oceania Teams July and September
In July all three teams from the Oceania region recorded victories. New Zealand beat Philippines 5-0 to retain their place in Asia/Oceania Group 1, Pacific Oceania beat Iran 4-1 to stay in Group 2 and Australia beat China to move through to the World Group qualifying round.
Australia took on Switzerland in Sydney in September to determine who would be in the World Group in 2012. The teams were a star studded line-up with Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic for Australia and Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka for Switzerland. Tied at 2-2 it all came down to a decider between Hewitt (ATP 200) and Wawrinka (20). A dramatic match was stopped by bad light at 5-3 in the final set. When they returned on Monday Wawrinka rapped up the match 6-3 in the fifth meaning that Australia will play in Asia/Oceania Group 1 again in 2012.
Davis Cup - Pacific Oceania beats Iran 4-1
Pacific Oceania wrapped up the tie with Iran 4-1 with a loss and a win in the dead rubber singles on the final day.
PO captain Cyrille Mainguy substituted Cyril Jacobe for Michael Leong for the first reverse singles against Iran number one Shahin Khaledan. Jacobe began well and raced to a 4-1 lead before Khaledan got his game going. From there the Iranian won five games in a row to take the set 6-4. The second set was fairly even but Khaledan got an early break and then held serve without trouble despite a rain interruption at 4-3 and 40-15 to take the set 6-4 and give Iran their first win of the tie.
West Nott was next on court against Rouzbeh Kamran. Nott matched the blazing heat with blazing serving in the first set claiming four service games without conceding a point including serving a series of aces. One service break was enough to get the Marshall Islander home in the first set 6-3.
The second set produced much longer rallies and dropshots as both players tried to outwit each other and fast approaching exhaustion. Nott got in front and served for the match at 5-2 but was broken by a series of great shots from Kamran. The next game Kamran was at love 40 but fought off the three match points to get to 4-5 and force Nott to serve for the match again. This time the Iranian was forced into errors and Nott put down a couple of excellent serves to take the set and the match 6-3 6-4.
The picture shows West Nott and team captain Cyrille Mainguy after Nott's second singles win of the tie.
Pacific Oceania retain their place in Group 2 of the Asia/Oceania Zone for 2012 and will have to wait until the draw is made in October to find their opponents for the 2012 competition. At the end of the tie PO captain Cyrille Mainguy thanked the crowd and volunteers and dedicated the win to former Guam NTF president Bill Camacho who passed away after the first tie and who was responsible for bringing the Davis Cup to Guam
Results:
Day 1
West Nott beat Shahin Kkhaledan 6-1 6-4 6-2
Michael Leong beat Rouzbeh Kamran 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4
Doubles
Llarenas/Jacobe beat Shokoofi/Taheri 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-2
Reverse Singles
Jacobe lost to Khaledan 4-6 4-6
Nott beat Kamran 6-3 6-4
|
