Indons threaten sweep

Indonesian non-playing captain Tintus Arianto Wilbowo predicted an Indon sweep of the opening singles after the Thursday draw, and his players did just that yesterday, imposing their will on their youthful Filipino rivals for a commanding 2-0 lead at the start of the Philippines-Indonesia first round tie in the Asia Oceania Zone Group II Davis Cup competitions at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Indon old warriors Suwandi Suwandi and Febi Widhiyanto proved too tough to handle for Filipinos Johnny Arcilla and Adelo Abadia, both scoring emphatic straight-set victories to give the visiting squad a big headstart in their best-of-five showdown.

Suwandi bucked a knee injury that sidelined him for weeks and came away with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Arcilla in their morning encounter, before Widhiyanto pulled off an equally-impressive 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Abadia in the afternoon match.

The double victory put the team in the threshold of winning the tie and the Indons could clinch it in the doubles match set at 1 p.m. today, or in any of the reverse singles scheduled tomorrow. The host team must sweep the last three matches to snatch the tie.

But Wibowo, a veteran Davis Cupper himself, made another prediction: "It's gonna be 3-0 tomorrow (today)."

"You know why (I'm so confident of winning)? It's simply because our players are more experienced and I believe we had better preparations," said Wibowo of his team, who had stints in Satellite events in Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India as part of their Davis Cup buildup.

Wibowo might have nominated Hendri Susilo Pramono and Edy Kusdaryanto against the Philippines' Rolando Ruel Jr. and Pop Sabandon for the doubles but is likely to change his lineup, calling in Widhiyanto and Pramono - a tested pair who made the finals of the Brunei SEA Games last year.

Despite the bad start, Filipino captain Martin Misa remained hopeful of their chances and didn't discount the possibility of likewise changing his doubles lineup.

"We have our back against the wall now but we'll try to bounce back. The doubles has been our weakness but we prepared hard for it. We're gonna look for an upset," said Misa, who earlier predicted a 50-50 chance for the Philippines after the draw.

The 19-year-old Arcilla took 4-2 lead in the first set but couldn't handle the pressure as Suwandi started to find his rhythm then fired bombs after bombs all over the court.

Hacking out crisp groundstrokes and wicked volleys, Suwandi salvaged the opening set at 6-4 and never looked back from there , hammering big serves and beating Arcilla in rallies to complete a straight-set win.

Suwandi, who back in 1993 beat Filipino aces Roland So and Felix Barrientos on his way to winning the Singapore SEAG singles gold medal, yielded only 12 points on his serves in the second and third sets.

The Indon No. 1 player for years now, Suwandi bombed Arcilla with eight aces against only one double-fault. The Filipino had six doubles-faults without a single ace.

Abadia put up some semblance of a fight against Widhiyanto in the third set only to lose it just the same as he suffered cramps on the left leg.

"Doon ako nanghihinayang sa match ni Adelo because I thought we're getting the momentum. I also thought Widhiyanto was getting tight but I wasn't aware Adelo was getting tight na rin pala. It was not because of fatigue but more of the pressure," said Misa.

The score was tied at 3-3 when cramps began to take their toll on Abadia.