RP Cuppers storm to semis

The Philippines continued to display supremacy over a field of lightweights in Davis Cup ties, blanking Bahrain, 3-0, yesterday and advancing to the semifinal round of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group III competitions at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Johnny Arcilla and Adelo Abadia underscored the Filipinos’ domination of their rivals with easy victories in their respective singles matches while the tandem of Rolando Ruel, Jr. and youthful Joseph Victorino completed the rout with a doubles win.

So overpowering were the singles victories that the hosts conceded only a point in a 4-0, 4-0, 4-0 win by Arcilla over Bader Abdul Aal and in a 4-0, 4-1, 4-0 victory by Abadia over Sayed Ismaeel.

However, Ruel and Victorino had to exert some effort but disposed off the Ismaeel-Abdul Rahman Shehab tandem just the same, 5-3, 4-1, 5-4 (8), to complete the demolition job in three hours and 17 minutes.

Bahrain bowed out of contention after absorbing its second straight loss in Group A.

"Today’s result just showed that we are slowly but surely starting to get the feel of our game," said non-playing captain Joseph Lizardo who also steered the Filipinos to a 3-0 win over Singapore last Wednesday.

"But an early entry into the semifinals is no guarantee that we have already clinched a ticket to Group II. We still have to work hard to win this event," added Lizardo, himself a many-time Davis Cup campaigner who has made a self-imposed mission of helping the country regain its once lofty berth in the elite Group I of the zone.

The champion and runner-up in this competition will be promoted to Group II next year where the champion will gain entry into Group I in 2003.

The Filipinos go for the No. 1 spot in the crossover semifinals today when they meet Sri Lanka starting 10 a.m.

Sri Lanka had earlier split its singles matches with Singapore with Renouk Wijimanne outplaying Ynan-Xian "Jensen" Hui, 4-0, 2-4, 4-2, 4-1, and Tun-Yi Kho equalizing for Singapore via a 5-3, 4-2, 4-1 win over Dinuka Ramaweera. The two teams are still playing the deciding doubles match at presstime.

Also gaining early entry into Saturday’s semifinals were Kazakhstan, which similarly swept Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan, which defeated Qatar in group B.

Pavel Baranov started the romp with a come-from behind 4-2, 2-4, 2-4, 4-1, 4-1 victory over Badar Al Megayel after which Alexey Kedryuk clinched the tie with a 4-0, 4-0, 4-0 thrashing of Othman Al Anazi. Kedryuk and Dias Doskarayev made it 3-0 by thumping Bader Abu Khulaif and Abdullah Nour, 4-0, 4-1, 4-1.

Clinching the semis berth for Tajikistan were singles campaigners Sergie Makashin and Mansur Yakhyaev who defeated Nasser-Ghanim Al Khulaifi and Sultan-Khaliffan Al Alawi, respectively, 1-4, 4-2, 4-1, 4-2 and 4-2, 5-3, 4-0.

All the matches were played under the short set format (first to win four games with a two-game edge and tiebreak at 4-all) and used the experimental Dunlop Precision oversized balls.