Psychological edge vs home-court advantage

After losing against New Zealand in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II battle last Sept. 13 to 15 at the Plantation Bay Resort & Spa in Lapu-Lapu City, members of the Philippine team will now focus their attention on Sri Lanka for their next journey early next year.

The Filipino netters are scheduled to face their Sri Lankan foes on Jan.31 to Feb. 2, 2014 at the latter’s turf for their first round tie. The scheduled match up between the Philippines and Sri Lanka will be the eighth time these two teams will meet and the Filipinos will have the upperhand psychologically in this battle as the Sri Lankans have never beaten the Filipinos in all of their seven meetings.

The most recent date that the two nations have met was back in 2006 with the Filipinos etching a 3-0 victory.

The 45th-ranked Philippines (462.5 points) hosted New Zealand in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II’s third round in the former’s own territory last September but the host nation lost what some quarters call as an “an epic promotional playoff.”

The Filipino netters showed their grit and resilience against New Zealand in that battle as they crawled back from being down 0-2 to force a do-or-die fifth rubber, where New Zealand escaped with the narrow win.

The Philippines first dropped Syria, 3-2, in the first round of their Group II Asia/Oceania war and took down Thailand, 4-1, in the semifinals before eventually losing to New Zealand in the final round, 2-3.

The loss equalized the two team’s win-loss records against each other with the Philippines winning three of the five meetings before New Zealand took the next three, including an overpowering 5-0 win in their 2011 match.

Ruben Gonzales and Terat Huey will be joined by teammates Johnny Arcilla, Francis Casey Alcantara and Vicente Elberto Anasta when they take on Sri Lanka, which ensured their place in Zone Group II for 2014 with a 3-2 victory over Lebanon in their relegation playoff.