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Day 3 -Thailand 5, Pacific Oceania 0
The serve and forehand of Kittiphong Wachiramanowong were the deciding factors in the first reverse singles as the Thai overpowered Michael Leong 6-2 6-1. Leong battled hard but was always struggling on serve as Kittiphong increasingly pressured him with strong returns. Leong tried everything, coming to net and scoring with some good volleys and twice reaching break point on the Thai’s serve but could not convert.
The seventh game of the first set was the turning point of the match. Leong served for nearly 15 minutes, getting to game point twice and saving five break points before a big forehand of the Thai won him the vital break.
From then on Kittiphong, world number 456, was superb with accurate serving and a string of sparkling forehand winners leaving the Pacific number one with little chance.
The final rubber was the battle of the left-handers Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana and Cyril Jacobe. Jacobe got a flier playing some superb tennis to lead 4-1 in the first set before the Thai clawed his way back to 4 all.
Jacobe then played a long game on his serve saving two break points before producing a great forehand pass to hold for 5-4. Perakiat held for 5 all and then the errors began to creep into the Pacific players game as he lost serve and Perakiat held for the set 7-5.
The second set was riddled with errors from Jacobe who managed one break and one hold of serve amongst the errors to lose the set and the match 7-5 6-2. Pacific Oceania will now play Malaysia in Malaysia in July in a relegation tie.
Australia finished off Chinese Taipei 5-0 in Melbourne and will play Japan for a place in the World group qualifying. In the other tie involving an Oceania nation New Zealand scraped home 3-2 against Sri Lanka with Rubin Statham winning the final rubber to bring victory in Colombo.
Results: Thailand 5 beat Pacific Oceania 0
Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana beat Michael Leong 7-5 6-1 6-3
Kittiphong Wachiramanowong beat Cyril Jacobe 6-4 6-1 6-0
S & S Ratiwatana bt C Jacobe & B Baudinet 6-4 6-1 6-3
Kittiphong beat Michael Leong 6-2 6-1
Perakiat beat Cyril Jacobe 7-5 6-2
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Day Two - Thailand 3, Pacific Oceania 0
Thailand wrapped up the Asia Oceania first round tie with Pacific Oceania taking the doubles in an entertaining three set match. Cyril Jacobe and Brett Baudinet took on the Ratiwatana twins Sonchat and Sonchai who are ranked 83 in the world and play on the ATP Tour.
Pacific Oceania began badly with Cyril Jacobe losing his opening serve. The Pacific boys recovered breaking back to level at four games all. The Pacific pair held game point for a 5-4 lead but failed to convert and eventually lost a very exciting set 6-4.
In the second set the Thai combination were totally dominant displaying their outstanding combination winning the set 6-1. The Pacific pair were unable to convert several game points which would have made the set much closer.
Pacific Oceania came out with renewed determination in the third set but again were undone in their first service game to trail 2-0. The teams then held serve for the rest of the match with Cyril Jacobe holding serve for 2-4 after six deuces in the best game of the match. Baudinet held serve and Thailand then served out the set 6-3 to record an overall score of 6-4 6-1 6-3.
Day One - Thailand 2, Pacific Oceania 0
Michael Leong started the tie for Pacific Oceania against Thailand’s number two player Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana by breaking serve twice to lead 5-1. He then had set points on his own serve at 5-2 and 5-4 but failed to convert and the chance of a great start to the tie was lost.
Perakiat, ranked 766, raced through the second set 6-1 allowing Leong to hold serve only once while comfortably holding his own as the Pacific Oceania player made a string of errors.
The third set looked to be heading the same way when Leong lost serve in the opening game. However Leong showed some fight to level at three games all playing some better tennis. Perekiat regrouped and broke serve twice to take the set 6-3 and give Thailand a 1-0 lead.
Pacific Oceania number two Cyril Jacobe then came up against Thailand’s top player Kittiphong Wachiramanowong ranked 458 in the world. Jacobe began well displaying powerful serves to get to two all. However Kittiphong found a way round the serve to break in the fifth game and that was enough for him to take the first set 6-4.
In the next two sets Kittiphong used his deep and powerful groundstrokes to draw errors from Jacobe and break serve regularly never giving the pacific player a free point.. Jacobe fought hard but whenever he got into a position to break serve the Thai player responded with an ace and finished off the last two sets 6-1 6-0 in a commanding display.
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