Mamiit out to score vs Japanese

MANILA, Philippines –  Fil-Am netter Cecil Mamiit is confident he can score a breakthrough win against a Japanese rival and lead Team Philippines to a victory over the Japanese in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie in Cebu on March 4-6.

“We’ve been working and training hard for this particular tie so I love our chance,” said Mamiit, who’s never won a single tie against Japan.

Mamiit is looking for a breakthrough win while the whole Phl team is out to end a long losing slump versus the Japanese in their tie set at the 1,500-seater Plantation Bay Resorts and Spa courts in Lapu Lapu, Cebu.

The Japanese team, made up of Go Soeda, Yuichi Sugita, Tatsuma Ito and Takao Suzuki, were to arrive in Cebu last night.

These were the same players dealing the Filipinos a 5-0 beating in their last Davis Cup match-up in Osaka, Japan last year.

Team Pilipinas fields in Mamiit, Conrad Treat Huey, Johnny Arcilla and Elbert Anasta for this tie.

“The boys have prepared hard for this particular tie. We hope the result would be different this time,” said Team Phl official Randy Villanueva.

The Filipinos flew to Cebu as early as last week to familiarize themselves with the court surface in Plantation Bay.

All the games will be shown on TV5 with the first singles matches scheduled on March 4, the doubles match the next day and the reverse singles on March 6.