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Pacific Oceania Retains Place in Group 2
Malaysia replaced their number one player Yew-Ming Si with their number four player Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam for the vital first reverse singles against Michael Leong.
Heshaam broke serve in the opening game and then held points for a 2-0 lead. The game went on for over 15 minutes with exhausting rallies and both players having opportunities to take it. Eventually Leong claimed the game and went on to win the set 6-1.
The second set continued the trend of long rallies and very close games but Leong managed to convert the game points and take the set 6-0. Despite the scoreline both players worked very hard for the points and it took determination and good focus from Leong to win the set.
Both players dropped serve at the start of the third set before Leong began to hit out and seized control of the match taking the remaining five games for the match and the tie for Pacific Oceania. The scoreline of 61 60 61 meant that Michael Leong dropped only four games in six sets of singles. Winning the doubles with Cyril Jacobe meant that Leong is the first Pacific Oceania player to win three rubbers in the same tie.
Cyril Jacobe was given the opportunity of playing the dead rubber final singles against Abdh-Hazli Bin Zainuddin. In an entertaining match the Malaysian won 75 76(2) after Jacobe had held set point in the second set but sent a forehand just wide. The final result was a 3-2 win for Pacific Oceania, their first in an away tie in five years of playing in Group 2.
The win over Malaysia concludes Pacific Oceania’s Davis Cup program for the year and ensures they will play in Asia/Oceania Group 2 in 2011.
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Pacific Oceania Take Doubels and Create History
Pacific Oceania captain Cyrille Mainguy made a strategic change to his doubles pairing replacing Juan Langton who had a five set singles on Friday with Michael Leong who has been in good form on the ITF Pro circuit in doubles this year. Leong paired up with Cyril Jacobe against Yew-Min Si and Adam Jaya for Malaysia.
The lightning flashed, the thunder cracked, the rain poured down, the roof held up and the PO boys got home, just, to record an historic first doubles win in Asia/Oceania Group two Davis Cup. The win puts Pacific Oceania ahead 2-1 going into Sunday’s reverse singles.
There was not a single break of serve in the three sets which took almost three hours to play. Pacific Oceania did have a set point on Jaya’s serve at 5-4 in the first set but could not take the opportunity. In the tiebreak Pacific led early before Malaysia got back in front 4-3. Leong and Jacobe then won four straight points to take the tiebreaker 7-4.
The second set started with Malaysia having break points on Jacobe’s serve and later on Leong’s but the Pacific pair survived with Leong holding serve to force a second tiebreak. Again the tiebreak was very close with Malaysia this time holding set point at 6-5. Pacific levelled and then took the next two points and the tiebreaker 8-6.
The third set saw both teams having break opportunities and not being able to convert. At 5-4 Pacific Oceania held match point on Si’s serve but the Malaysian put down a great serve to keep the match alive. In the third set tiebreaker Pacific Oceania got away to a good start and kept in front winning the last four points against the tiring Malaysians to claim the tiebreak 7-2.
With the final scoreline 76(4) 76(6) 76(2) Pacific Oceania take a 2-1 lead into the reverse singles.
Day One level 1-1
Juan Langton was first on court against Malaysian number one Si Yew Ming. Langton started well breaking serve in the tenth game to take the first set 6-4. In the second Si was more aggressive on Langton’s serve and served well himself, breaking serve twice to clam the set 6-2 and even the match.
In the third set Langton broke serve in the fourth game and then hung on for the rest of the set saving three break points at 5-3 before holding and taking the set 6-3. The fourth set went with serve until the twelfth game. Langton was at 40 love and a tiebreaker seemed certain but Si rallied and broke serve to take the set 7-5.
The final set was full of drama with Langton breaking early to lead 3-1. Si was guilty of questionable tactics delaying play, taking timeouts and arguing directly with the referee. Langton had chances to break at 4-2 and hold for 5-3 but lost both and the match levelled at 4 games all. At 4-5 Langton saved four match points on his serve but at 5-6 squandered a 40-15 lead with a couple of double faults and the Malaysian seized his chance to close out the match 4-6 6-2 3-6 7-5 7-5.
After the first rubber lasted just short of four hours the second was a real contrast. Michael Leong made short work of his match with Malaysian number two player Abd-Hazli Bin Zainuddin taking just one our and twenty minutes to win 6-1 6-1 6-0. There were many long rallies but Leong won the majority of them including one where he hit 12 groundstrokes with a broken string.
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