Cuppers stay alive, take doubles

Fil-Ams Treat Conrad Huey and Ruben Gonzales turned back Lee Hsin Han and Peng Hsien Yin with a gripping 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) victory that rekindled the Philippines’ bid for a return stint to the Davis Cup Group I play in their Asia-Oceania Zone Group II tie in Taiwan yesterday.

Facing the spectre of an early exit after Jeson Patrombon and PJ Tierro dropped the opening singles Friday with identical 2-6, 2-6, 1-6 scores to Hung Jui Chen and Lu Yen Hsun, respectively, Huey and Gonzales came through with crucial win in the doubles.

“Treat and Ruben played great doubles, the best doubles match I’ve seen them play together,” said Phl Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva.

“Both were relaxed and looked very confident considering their opponents are highly ranked and both are doubles specialists,” he added.

Patrombon and Tierro are scheduled to play Lu and Hung in the reverse singles today but Villanueva said they could make some last minute changes, hoping to pull off a huge reversal.

“We’re still undecided who we’re going to play tomorrow (today). It’s possible that we’ll insert either Ruben or Treat or maybe both of them. We’ll see,” said Villanueva.

The Filipinos would have to dish out their best tennis to win both reverse singles matches considering that Taiwan’s best player, Lu, is a regular Grand Slam campaigner and is ranked 61st in the world. Phl team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier, however, remained hopeful of his wards’ chances.

“We are confident that we can recover, we have been in this situation before and there’s no question about the Filipinos fighting heart,” said Lhuillier.

The Philippine Davis Cup team is supported by Cebuana Lhuillier.