All square between Thailand, Philippines
Thailand strike back to salvage tie on first day of Davis Cup battle with hosts Philippines
>> Thailand finished the opening day of their 2018 Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II encounter with the Philippines tied 1-1, finding the going tough on the slow shell-clay court in Manila.
Thailand No.2 Jirat Navasirisomboon, ranked 1,411th in the world, failed to match the wits of top-ranked Filipino Jeson Patrombon in the opening duel.
Jirat started off well by breaking Patrombon, but the local star hit back in a spectacular fashion to take four games in a row before wrapping up the first set 6-2.
Patrombon’s powerful serves and groundstrokes proved too much for Jirat and another 6-2 loss gave the Philippines the upper hand in the tie.
Jirat said after the match: “He played very well, but he is used to the court here. I made lots of unforced errors, especially with my backhand.”
Thailand’s world No.433 Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul made amends by defeating the Philippines’ second-ranked player John Otico in straight sets.
Wishaya took the first set 6-3 and stemmed Otico’s bid to recover by grabbing the second 6-4 to put his team on an equal footing.
Wishaya said: “Although I won today, I am not pleased with my performance because I was wayward with my first serves.”
Thailand Davis Cup captain Weerapat Doakmaiklee said: “We expected to be in a tie at the end of the first day. We need two points and we must try to win the first two matches on the final day.”
Today, Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana take on Francis Alcantara and Johny Arcilla in the doubles battle before Patrombon and Wishaya square off in the first reverse singles and Jirat meets Otico in the last singles tussle if needed.
With a place in the group final on offer to the winners, Thailand’s veteran doubles pair of Sonchat and Sanchai were reluctant to guarantee a victory in the third match-up today.
They said: “The condition of the court is still posing problems for us
“Although we are ranked higher than the Philippines pair, we cannot guarantee whether we will be able to beat them because there are many factors involved.
“For the moment, just consider us underdogs, but we will try our best to win.”
Wishaya was in a confident mood, saying: “The reverse singles with Patrombon shouldn’t be tough because I have played with him many times. I beat him in the 2017 SEA Games.”