Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone tie: Gonzales opens Philippine bid vs Taiwan’s ace

MANILA, Philippines - Ruben Gonzales will put the Cebuana Lhuillier-Philippine team’s bid in motion at the start of its Group 2 Asia-Oceania Zone Davis Cup tie with Chinese-Taipei at the Phl Columbian Association’s courts in Plaza Dilao, Manila today.

The hosts will try to settle old score with their 2015 tormentors, fired up by Treat Huey’s impressive semifinal finish in the recent Wimbledon doubles event.

Gonzales, as the country’s No. 2, drew Chen Ti in the first opening singles at 3 p.m., upbeat of his chances against Chinese-Taipei’s top player. Filipino No. 1 Francis Casey Alcantara takes on the visiting team’s No. 2 Huang Liang-chi in the other match at 5 p.m.

“They maybe ranked higher than us but in Davis Cup anything can happen,” said Gonzales, coming off a doubles victory in the ITF Futures in France.

Alcantara, who plays mostly on doubles and won the juniors doubles title with Taiwanese partner Hsieh Cheng-peng in the 2009 Australian Open, said he “will be out there fighting” in his showdown with Huang.

Non-playing captain Karl Santamaria welcomed the results of yesterday’s draw presided by Philippine Tennis Association’s incoming president Salvador “Buddy” Andrada and executive vice president Manuel Misa.

ITF referee David Smith and Philta vice president and Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva were also present in the draw ceremony for the meet sponsored by Cebuana Lhuillier, Philippine Sports Commission, Yonex as official outfitter and Toby’s Sports as official stringer.

“We have a very versatile lineup of players and I’m confident they can play well in both doubles and singles,” said Santamaria.

He also hopes to steal one in the singles matches.

“That is the challenge we have to overcome and we have high hopes we can,” said Santamaria.

The 30-year-old Huey, who rose to No. 18 in the ATP rankings following his Wimbledon feat, will team up with Jeson Patrombon in tomorrow’s doubles against Hung Jui Chen and Wang Chieh Fu.

The reverse singles will be played Sunday.

“I just want to try to help the team win in whatever capacity I can,” said Huey.

The Filipinos own a 4-3 (win-loss) head-to-head record against the Taiwanese but the latter beat the former the last three times they faced, the last a 3-2 decision in Kaohsiung City that kept the Phl in Group 2.

Taipei’s non-playing skipper Chiang Jinn Yen, meanwhile, exudes confidence in their bid in the singles but remains wary in the doubles.

Chen and Huang are ranked 227th and 529th in the world as against Alcantara’s 1189th and Patrombon’s 1121st, respectively, while Huey is way ahead of everyone on the Taipei roster with his impressive No. 18 ranking.

“We’re better in the singles but the Phl should be hard to beat in the doubles,” said Chiang.

He also cited the hosts’ homecourt edge, saying: “You have the advantage of the home court and the shell courts, that’s where we will make adjustments.”