The Philippine Davis Cup that opens its tie against heavily favored Japan in Osaka on Friday is happy over the draw which was held Thursday in which the No.1 seeds in both countries face each other in the second singles match.
33 year old veteran Cecil Mamiit who is ranked No. 522 will need all his years of experience and remarkable fighting heart against Japan’s Go Soeda who is currently ranked No. 234, down from a career high 106 on February 23 last year.
In the opening singles, left handed doubles specialist Treat Huey who has been having a remarkable run takes the court against Japan’s No. 2 Tatusma Ito who has reached a career high No. 203 ranking as against the 698 ranking of Huey.
Team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier who is in Osaka with his charming wife and former Olympian Bea Lucero said “Being a staunch supporter of the Philippine Davis Cup Team, I look forward to seeing our players in action in Japan . The team has a formidable opponent in the Japanese delegation but I know that their exposure to other international opponents and their experience in other tournaments will play a big part in their game plan to win and bring honor to the Philippines .”
PHILTA president Lito Villanueva who is also in Osaka to provide moral support to the RP team said “The campaign of the Cebuana Lhuillier Philippine Team to the world group of Davis Cup this year wont be possible without the support of Chairman Harry Angpin of PSC and Cebuana Lhuillier” pointing out that it takes 1.5 to 2million pesos to form and send a team to Japan. .
Other supporters in Osaka include the personal coaches of the players like Julio Carluen for Mamiit and Jun Toledo for “Nino” Alcantara who has been nominated for the doubles alongside Johnny Arcilla on the second day. Japan-based former Davis Cup player Camoy Palahang also joins the team everyday and provides support while the Philippine diplomatic mission has also promised to send its staff to cheer for the Philippine team.
Davis Cup administrator and former national junior player Randy Villanueva reported that the weather was “not as cold as we expected and the venue where we are playing is also warm since its an indoor coliseum and it’s a controlled environment.”
He said the team “is playing and practicing very well” even though they realize the formidable task ahead of them.
Ito and Soeda have played in a number of tournaments this year. Ito who was the top seed in the Futures 3 tournament in Taizhou, China lost to Oliver Statham of New Zealand 2-6/6-7. Statham is the same player who was defeated by Mamiit and Huey in the Davis Cup tie last year.
Ito entered the round of 16 in the Burnie Challenger in Australia, beating JOshuia Crowe 6-1/6-4 before losing to Yuichi Sugita who is ranked No, 301 in the world, 5-7/3-6. In the Honolulu Challenger Ito made it to the round of 32 where he was beaten by American Kevin Kim 4-6/6-4/6-7 while in the first round of the Australian Open qualifiers the Japanese lost to Nicolas Deviuder of France 2-6/3-6. In his last tournament in Chennai, India, Ito lost to Noam Okun of Israel 2-6/3-6 in the second round of the qualifier after winning his opening match against American Alex Bogomolov Jr 7-6/6-3.
The 25 year old Soeda was beaten in the opening round of the Australian Open qualifier by Blaz Kavic of Slovakia, No. 124 in the world who won 7-6/4-6/4-6 while in Honolulu he was ousted in the round of 32 by Jesse Witten of the US who won 6-3/4-6/7-6.
One of Soeda’s most impressive wins was in Dallas when he ousted Korea’s No. 197 ranked Kyu Tae Im 6-2/6-1 before falling to Ryan Sweetings of the US, 2-6/-2-6.
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