PH wins doubles, takes 2-1 lead in Davis Cup Asia tie

Francis “Casey” Alcantara promised the Cebuanos a win, and that’s exactly what he and Treat Conrad Huey did yesterday.

The Filipino duo thrashed Thailand’s Nuttanon Kadchapanan and Pruchya Isarow, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6, to put the Philippines up, 2-1, in the second round of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II tie at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.

“I made a promise and promises are not made to be broken,” said the 21-year-old Alcantara, who won the 2009 Australian Open Boy’s Doubles event with Hsieh Cheng-peng.

Alcantara is a native of Cagayan de Oro who is now on a scholarship program at the Pepperdine University in California, USA.

With the win, the Philippines needs just one more victory to face either New Zealand or Pakistan in the third and final action.

Today’s first of the reverse singles match will pit Ruben Gonzales against Danai Udomchoke while the second will see Johnny Arcilla face Wishaya Trocharoenchaikul.

“Ginawa na natin ang assignment natin. We need just one more,” said Cebuana Lhuillier Philippine Davis Cup team captain Ronald Kraut. “We put ourselves in a position wherein the pressure is back on them (Thailand),”

He added that Udomchoke is good but he is confident that Gonzales will be able to handle him.

“I am ready. I didn’t play the doubles today so I got to rest. I will rely on my serve, forehand and I play on clay a lot, so we will see what happens,” Gonzales said.

The first-time partnership of Alcantara and Huey yielded a very positive result with the pair winning the match on a tiebreak on the third set while leading two sets to nothing.

“We only practiced together for five days and Treat is very fast. All I needed to do is serve well and he did the rest,” Alcantara said.

The duo showed great teamwork with Alcantara scoring on nine dropshots including two that handed the Philippines the first and second sets with similar 6-3 scores.

In the third set, the Philippines went up by two before Thailand broke Alcantara’s serve following four deuces for a 2-1 score.

Both teams then held serves to to tie the match at 5-all before the Thais broke the Philippines to go up, 6-5.

Isarow committed three unforced errors to allow the Philippines to force a tiebreak. The Thais matched the Philippines at 2-all before falling to 2-4  following Kadchapanan’s errors. The Philipines went up at 5-2 on Alcantara’s passing shot and managed to keep the Thais at bay for the win.

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