RP Cuppers sweep Pakistanis

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am netters Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey continued to stamp their class against Pakistani rivals with a straight-set win in doubles yesterday, guaranteeing the Philippines a ticket to the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group II finals at the PCA center court in Paco, Manila yesterday.

Mamiit and Huey clobbered the Pakistani pair of Aqeel Khan and Jibran Muhammadi, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0, to make it 3-0 for the Philippines in the best-of-five tie, rendering today’s reverse singles non-bearing.

Hurdling Hong Kong and Pakistan in the first two rounds of Group II plays, the Philippines advanced to the finals versus the winner of the New Zealand-Indonesia tie. The Group II finale is set in September with the winner promoted to Group I .

“I’m very happy we’ve clinched the tie and we’ll now work for the next tie,” said RP non-playing captain Chris Cuarto.

“If New Zealand wins (against Indonesia), we’ll have a good chance because we’ll play in Manila. We’ll work it out for us to play in clay (PCA). We know that they want to play fast, they want to play in grass,” Cuarto said.

If it’s Indonesia, chances are the Indons are going to be the hosts of the Filipinos.

“We have a full team and that makes me confident of our chances against either New Zealand or Indonesia,” said Cuarto.

With the win in the bag, the Philippines is fielding Nos. 3 and 4 players Patrick John Tierro and Niño Alcantara for the reverse singles today.

Tierro and Alcantara were originally listed to play the doubles but RP team officials, as expected, made the change before the match.

“We wanted to finish as soon as we can. Anyway, Cecil’s and Treat’s matches Friday were not that tough,” said Cuarto.

Mamiit and Huey did make it quick, disposing of Khan and Muhammadi in an hour and 32 minutes, thus completing the sweep of the opening singles and the doubles without dropping a set.

Mamiit fashioned out a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 whipping of Jalil Khan while Huey pulled off a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 drubbing of Aqeel Khan in the opening singles Friday.

The Mamiit-Huey tandem has gone 2-0 in their doubles partnership, having also won their doubles match versus Hong Kong in the first round of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group II competition.

Both said they’re looking forward to continue playing with one another in the RP team.

Hammering a crisp forehand winner to close out the match, Mamiit let out a big yell, flashed a big smile then ran towards Huey as they celebrated with the crowd.

The Filipino pair set the tone of the match early in winning the first four games.

The Pakistanis hit their strides in the second set but faded away just the same.

In the third set, Mamiit and Huey poured on the everything, making a big show to the delight of the home crowd, including the RP Blu Boys who are set to leave for Canada today to compete in the World Softball Championship.

“I really enjoy to play here and it feels good being cheered on by your fellow athletes,” said Mamiit on the support of the Blu Boys.