RP plays Singapore in Cup elims

The Philippines starts its hard climb to Group I today when the RP Cuppers take on their Singaporean counterparts in the opening ties of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group III Davis Cup competitions at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The first duel in the best-of-three matches tie starts at 10 a.m. after the 8:30 opening ceremonies which will be graced by International Tennis Federation Davis Cup Committee Chairman Neale Fraser, Asian Tennis Federation President Eiichi Kawatei, PSC Chair Butch Tuason and POC President Celso Dayrit.

The Filipinos, aching to regain their place in the elite Group I of the zone, will also meet the netters from Bahrain and Sri Lanka in Group A of the single round-robin eliminations.

The top two teams from this group will go into a crossover semifinals against the topnotchers from Group B composed of Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan. Leading the Filipinos’ campaign is world no. 1331 Adelo Abadia. Others in the team of non-playing captain Joseph Lizardo are RP No. 2 Johnny Arcilla, Rolando Ruel Jr. and Joseph Victorino.

The Philippines owns a 1-0 record over Singapore after Ody Gabriel, Felix Barrientos and Tony Boy Del Rosario combined talents to beat the Singaporeans, 5-0, in their first and only Davis Cup meeting so far in 1984.