Davis Cuppers test Cebu outdoor venue

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Davis Cup team got the first crack at testing the outdoor clay courts of the posh Plantation Bay Resorts and Spa in Lapu Lapu City after flying yesterday to Cebu where they received a warm welcome from the local crowd.

Phl No. 1 Cecil Mamiit along with other members Johnny Arcilla and Elbert Anasta and reserve Patrick John Tierro left Manila for Cebu and briefly practiced at the 1,500-seater facility hoping their familiarity with the court surface will put them in good stead in their Asia-Oceania Zone Group I first round tie slated March 4-6.

“They’re in Cebu except for Treat Huey,” said RP Davis Cup team administrator Randy Villanueva.

Huey, Mamiit’s Fil-Am partner, was scheduled to arrive late last night from Morroco where he teamed up with Italian Simone Vagnozzi to reign supreme in the double’s event of the Meknes Tennis Challenger there.

Mamiit, who arrived the other day from the United States, is upbeat on their chances despite facing a Japanese team that has never lost to the Filipinos in their last three Davis Cup ties including an emphatic 5-0 win in Osaka, Japan last year.

The Phl’s last win over Japan came 16 years ago when the team headed by Bobby Angelo and Joseph Lizardo stunned the visiting team at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Manila in one of the most dramatic, perhaps biggest, victory by the Filipinos in years in Davis Cup history.

“We’re all training hard for this particular tie,” said Mamiit, who is hoping to win his first tie against Japan before the hometown crowd.

The Japanese, for their part, will get to see the playing surface when they arrive on Feb. 26, or barely a week before their tie.

The Phl-Japan tie will be played outside Manila for the first time and all of its games – first singles matches set on March 4, doubles match on March 5 and, if necessary, reversed singles matches on March 6 – televised live on TV5, which is another first.

“This marked the first time in many years that Davis Cup games will be aired live on TV. This gives tennis-loving Filipinos, who couldn’t go to Cebu, the opportunity to watch and cheer for our team in their living rooms,” said Villanueva.

Aside from TV5’s live airing of the matches, Plantation Bay will also install wide screens outside the venue to accomodate those who couldn’t get tickets to the much-awaited showdown.

To the disappointment of some though, World No. 9 Jeson Patrombon will not be around as he was stricken off the team for still undisclosed reasons.

Patrombon, of course, is coming off a quarterfinal performance in the singles division of the Australian Juniors Open, the best finish by a Filipino since Felix Barrientos made it to the semis in Wimbledon more than two decades ago.