Sat, Mar 06, 2010 page20

• Taiwan face uphill task in Davis Cup

  STRUGGLING Lu Yen-hsun’s absence was keenly felt as Taiwan’s players proved no match for their Australian opponents, despite the hosts missing Lleyton Hewitt

  • AFP WITH STAFF WRITER AND CNA
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  Teenager Bernard Tomic led Australia to a commanding 2-0 lead over Taiwan in their Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie in Melbourne yesterday.

  Tomic, at 17 Australia’s youngest Davis Cup player in 77 years, crushed Taiwan’s Yang Tsung-hua, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in the opening singles rubber.

  Australia’s nominated No. 1 player Peter Luczak built on Tomic’s winning start to down Yi Chu-huan, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 and put the hosts 2-0 up heading into today’s pivotal doubles.

  

  Taiwan’s Yi Chu-huan hits a backhand return during his loss to Australia’s Peter Luczak in their Davis Cup match in Melbourne yesterday. Luczak won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to give Australia a 2-0 lead in the tie.

  PHOTO: AFP

  Carsten Ball and Paul Hanley will team up for the doubles against Yang and Yi.

  Non-playing captain John Fitzgerald continually urged Tomic to maintain his focus as the teenager reeled off an accomplished straight sets victory on his Davis Cup debut.

  “That was the first time and I handled it quite well. I really liked Fitzy giving me the advice, which worked out well,” Tomic said.

  

  Australian Peter Luczak hits a return during his victory over Taiwan’s Yi Chu-huan in their Davis Cup match in Melbourne yesterday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  “I think we executed our decisions really well today. He said a few things and I did them really well, it pleased him and it pleased me,” he said.

  “I couldn’t be much happier. Yang’s always played well against me and I’ve had a lot of three-setters with him so today to win in three and to win it quite comfortably was good,” Tomic said.

  Yang finished ahead of Tomic as the world’s No. 1 junior for singles and doubles in 2008, and the Australian is only ranked 22 spots ahead of Yang in the world singles rankings.

  

  Taiwan’s Yang Tsung-hua hits a return to Bernard Tomic of Australia during their Davis Cup match at the Rod Laver Arena, in Melbourne.

  PHOTO: EPA

  However, Yang was never able to get into the match, which was delayed by rain for more than an hour after the players had finished their warm-up. Tomic broke Yang’s first service game and quickly pushed to a 4-1 lead, with Yang unable to respond.

  Fitzgerald, who has been in charge of Australia’s Davis Cup team since 2001, was impressed with Tomic’s performance.

  “He hardly missed a beat and gee, he timed the ball well,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a good player. He was a little nervy as you would expect in the first set and then he just loosened up after that and showed us what he can do.”

  Yi , known more for his doubles play, did well to take a set off Luczak. The 22-year-old Taiwanese is ranked 514th in the world in singles compared to Luczak’s 75th.

  He put early pressure on Luczak with powerful serves and pinpoint volleys to at least give the Australian a temporary scare. But Yi cramped up in the third set, derailing his efforts to stay in the match.

  Luczak is Australia’s top-ranked player in Melbourne this weekend after Lleyton Hewitt’s recent right hip surgery.

  Taiwan are also without their top-ranked player Lu Yen-hsun. The worlds No. 103 decided to pass on the tournament so that younger teammates could have an opportunity to gain valuable experience.

  additional reporting by staff writer

  JAPAN 2, PHILIPPINES 0

  AFP, OSAKA, JAPAN

  Japan’s top player Tatsuma Ito struggled through to a five-set win to help his side take a 2-0 lead over the Philippines in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone Group One tie yesterday.

  Ito needed three hours and 13 minutes to score a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over 698th-ranked Treat Conrad Huey in the opener of the best-of-five match contest on the artificial indoor court.

  Ito is currently the country’s top player after Kei Nishikori’s ranking dropped to 898th this week because of a right elbow injury that has forced him out of action for almost a year.

  Japan’s No. 2 Go Soeda dropped the first-set tie-breaker and the opening service game of the second set before storming back to beat American-born Cecil Mamitt 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 without facing a single break point afterwards.

  “Tatsuma won earlier, so it made me relaxed,” Soeda said.

  Japan coach Eiji Takeuchi said: “It was Go’s best match so far as I’ve seen him before.”

  Toshihide Matsui and Takao Suzuki will take on Francis Casey Alcantara and Johnny Arcilla in today’s doubles match, followed by reverse singles tomorrow.

  The winners of the tie will play either Australia or Taiwan in the second round from May 7 to May 9, vying for a place in the play-off for the World Group.

  CHINA 1, UZBEKISTAN 1

  AFP , BEIJING

  China and Uzbekistan were all square after the first day of their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie in Jiangmen yesterday.

  Uzbekistan’s Russian-born world No. 76 Denis Istomin beat Wu Di of China 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 before Zhang Ze leveled the tie for the hosts by defeating world No. 536 Farrukh Dustov 6-4, 0-6, 7-5, 6-3.
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