Chen sinks Gonzales in DC opening tiff
Ruben Gonzales ran into veteran Chen Ti and took a 2-6, 6-2, 2-6, 2-6 loss, while Francis Casey Alcantara succumbed to cramps, putting the Philippine team in a big hole with a 0-2 setback in the opening singles of the Cebuana Lhuillier-Philippines-Chinese Taipei Asia-Oceania Zone Group II Davis Cup tie yesterday.
Chen, ranked No. 226, overcame humid conditions to overpower Gonzales, the country’s No. 2 player, in the last two sets to give the visiting team a 1-0 edge in their tie at the Philippine Columbian Association clay court in Plaza Dilao, Manila.
“He played good, credit goes to him as well,” said the 30-year-old Gonzales, who was born and raised in Terre Haute, Indiana. “There were opportunities but I could not capitalize on them.”
Later in the night, Alcantara suffered cramps and lost to Huang Liang Chi, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 1-6, 1-0.
It was Gonzales’ fifth singles defeat in 13 Davis Cup stints starting in 2010.
For a while, Gonzales held his own against the Taiwanese with his aggressiveness, defusing his rival’s solid baseline game to level it at 1-1.
“Shot-for-shot and experience wise, we can’t match Chen,” said non-playing captain Karl Santamaria. “So we felt that we really had to try something. And for a while it was working.”
But Gonzales lost steam and committed costly errors in the last two frames.
“I didn’t really panic much (during the third set) but I felt that he was low-balling me to death,” said Gonzales.
“We had a game plan. And I kept telling Ruben ‘you have to win the first few points of every game or the game itself. Otherwise it makes Chen very comfortable,’” said Santamaria.
The 32-year-old Chen did dominate the match from the third set and led 5-0 in the fourth, breaking Gonzales in the second and fourth games and holding at love in the fifth.
Meanwhile, Treat Conrad Huey teams up with Jeson Patrombon as they shoot for a victory against Hung Jui-Chen and Wang Chieh Fu in today’s doubles at 3 p.m.