Following similar 3-0 wins over Sri Lanka and Singapore the last two days, the Philippines once again played true to form, beating Vietnam in the two singles and lone doubles matches.
Fil-Americans Erik Taino and Cecil Mamiit, now the country’s "dynamic duo" in tennis, won over Thanh Hoang Tran, 6-0, 6-1, and Minh Quanh Do, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1, respectively.
In doubles, PJ Tierro and Johnny Arcilla proved to be a perfect combination as they sealed the shutout win on a sunny day. They scored a 6-3, 7-5 win against Quang Ti Lam and Tran.
In three days against three different countries, the Philippines only dropped one set, that of Mamiit’s second against Do, the top-ranked player in Vietnam.
Among the eight teams divided into two groups, advancing to today’s carry-over, round-robin phase were the Philippines with Sri Lanka from one group, and Iran with Saudi Arabia from the other.
Because of the carry-over rule, the Philippines will no longer play Sri Lanka today. First in line for the host country is Saudi Arabia in the morning and Iran in the afternoon.
The top two teams after today’s matches will play in tomorrow’s finals. What’s more important, though, is that these two teams will climb back to Group 2 of the Davis Cup next year.
The four lower ranked teams will play a separate carry-over, round-robin with the top two staying in Group 3 and the bottom two dropping to Group 4 along with countries like Qatar, Brunei, Syria and Iraq.
The Philippines is quite a stranger in Group 3, having fallen into the pit after a dismal performance last year. The last time the Philippines found itself in Group 3 was in 2000.
Taino wished that it won’t happen again
"We are playing well. Even if the matches were close, I think we’d still win. I think this team will do well even in Group 2. Or even in Group 1," said Taino, a Fil-American like Mamiit.
The Philippines landed in Group 1 in 1990 with a team made up of Felix Barientos, Roland So, Danilo Pila and Camoy Palahang. But it lost in the World Group qualifier for a chance to join the world’s best like the US, France and Switzerland.