Pinoy Davis Cuppers blank Hong Kong, 3-0

The Philippines kept its place in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group II competition as it whipped the visiting Hong Kong squad in their relegation tie at the Ynares Socio-Cultural Sports Center in Pasig City.

The Filipinos clinched the tie victory on the 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win of Johnny Arcilla and Adelo Abadia over John Hui and Asif Ismail in the doubles match yesterday, following the singles sweep by Arcilla and Abadilla themselves Friday.

The RP team’s 3-0 lead in the tie renders today’s reverse singles non-bearing. Hong Kong has been demoted to Group III play next year.

Arcilla, the country’s top netter, shook off a bad start to pull off a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over Hong Kong No. 2 Michael Brown after Abadia led off the RP campaign with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 lashing of Hiu Tung Yu in the opening singles.

In the doubles match, Arcilla and Abadia went through some anxious moments only in the first set as they got tougher as the game went on, causing a little party on a Black Saturday in the Pasig venue.

Veteran Joseph Victorino and rookie Patrick John Tierro were initially nominated to play against Hui and Ismail.

Victorino and Tierro, however, get a chance to strut their stuffs in Davis Cup competition as they replace Arcilla and Abadia in the non-bearing reverse singles.

"Tulungan lang kami ni Johnny (Arcilla) pagkatapos nahirapan kami sa first set dahil sa magagandang serve ng kalaban. Ako yung taga-set-up, siya yung taga-patay ng atake ng kalaban," said Abadia, 28, of their play in the doubles.

"We lost. The Filipinos are much better all-around players," said Hong Kong non-playing team captain Derrick Hung. "Abadia is a good doubles player. He has excellent drop shots, as well as spin shots. Our boys were really rattled."

Abadia and Arcilla showed great form after overcoming a 4-5 deficit in the first set.

It was practically the same story for Arcilla in Friday’s singles.

The breakthrough came in the fourth game of the second set when Arcilla overhauled a 30-40 deficit to register a service break for a 3-1 edge. There was no looking back for the Filipino from there as he lost only six of the next 15 games to complete the first day sweep.

Abadia, ranked only third in the country, gave justice to his being chosen the No. 2 singles players when he used guile more than power to beat Yu, who was visibly bothered by the scorching temperature Friday.

"Tinanggal ko siya sa comfort zone niya. Magaling siya sa baseline kaya iniksian ko ang balik para pumasok siya sa net," said Abadia.