Kiwis escape Pinoys, 3-2 as Huey loses despite 2-0 lead

The Philippines failed in its bid to advance to Group 1 of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania after losing a crucial decider against New Zealand in the heated and rain-delayed reverse singles matches that finished early Monday morning at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.

Staring at a 1-2 deficit against New Zealand going into Sunday night’s crucial games, the Philippines managed to tie New Zealand after Ruben Gonzales pulled off a gritty five-set win over Rubin Statham, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 8-6, to force a rubbermatch.

In the second reverse singles, Treat Huey relinquished a huge two-sets to love lead and lost a shocking five setter against Michael Venus, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 1-6, 3-6 to the delight of New Zealand team captain Alistair Hunt and teammates Statham, Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell..

Venus also crawled back from a 1-2 deficit to beat Gonzales in the first singles match last Friday.

The 3-2 victory pushed New Zealand to the Asia/Oceania Group I, which will be a small group in 2014 since Japan and Australia have advanced into the World Group. New Zealand will compete against China, Chinese Taipei, India, Korea and Uzbekistan for a chance to make it to the elite World Group.

Meanwhile, the win didn’t come without some drama. A report from The New Zealand Herald said the game had some heated confrontation between the two teams.

“Just a little bit of argy bargy carry on that was going on,” Hunt told The NZ Herald. “There were some pretty poor comments that have been thrown around but that’s what it was. It was heat of the moment sort of stuff.”

Hunt said a rope was eventually brought in to separate the two teams court side.

“The boys were standing up, cheering then people were saying they couldn’t see and all sorts, and it just got a bit silly there.”

But that didn’t affect Venus’ great come-from-behind win, which actually bewildered hunt.

“He was up 4-1 in the first set and ended up losing that 7-5 and then lost the second, 6-4, and still managed to pull it out,” Hunt said. “So it was a pretty unbelievable effort.”