10 July 2011
New Zealand has beaten the Philippines 5-0 in their Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie indoors at the TSB Hub in Hawera, Taranaki.
Having already won the contest
on the second day the reverse singles were 'dead' matches, however
Kiwi non-playing captain,
Marcel Vos used them to give his more
inexperienced players an opportunity to gain some confidence.
Marcus Daniell was put on court to take
on top-20 ranked junior Jeson Patrombon
in the first of the reverse singles. The home player using his strong serve to
good effect to win the contest 4-6 6-3 6-3. In the second of the reverse singles
Russian-born Artem Sitak showed plenty of
resolve as he took on former top 100 player and now "Team Sharapova" hitting
partner Cecil Mamiit.
Despite a code violation by Mamiit
as a result of a courtside sign taking a kicking, Sitak was able to maintain his
concentration and take away a win 6-4 7-5 to secure the 5-0 win, something which
had Vos thrilled in front of an
enthusiastic crowd.
"Five nil is what we wanted. It's
what we were hoping for at the beginning of the clash. It was a real team
effort. Mike had a close one on the
first day and together with Rubin they gave us a good start. For
Artem and
Marcus to win the doubles gave us the 3-0 win. Being 3-0 up gave us
the opportunity to give Marcus and
Artem a chance to play in the singles.
I'm really proud of the team to play the way they did," said Vos.
Earlier on day two New Zealand had won
the doubles match featuring Daniell and
Sitak over
Ruben Gonzales and
Mamiit in straight sets. The first
time Daniell had been in a winning Davis
Cup match and the first match in New Zealand
for Sitak. The victory was
also the first doubles win for the Kiwi Davis
Cup team since the clash with Indonesia
in 2009.
Day one saw Rubin Statham continue his
good Davis Cup form with a straight set win against
Gonzales while
Michael Venus beat Mamiit in five
games in a nearly four hour contest.
Venus and
Sitak now travel to a US$1000,000 Challenger at Aptos in California while
Statham also travels to professional
tournaments and Daniell has a couple of
weeks at home before leaving for overseas
New Zealand will now remain in Group I of Asia/Oceania in Davis Cup potentially alongside teams such as Australia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan and Japan, all of whom have top 100 players. However the Kiwi team won’t get to play another match until February of next year with their opposition to be decided in September.