Islanders relegated to Group III

Pacific Oceania was relegated to Group III over the weekend after losing the opening singles and Day 2 doubles matches in its 2008 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II tie against Oman held at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.

After the Islanders were swept in the opening singles matches by the talented Al Nabhani brothers—Mohammad and Khalid—last Friday, the doubles pair of Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands and Cyril Jacobe of Vanuatu lost the vital doubles rubber in five sets against the same duo Saturday.

Baudinet and Jacobe took on the highly fancied Oman brother pairing and competed well throughout, according to the Oceania Tennis website.

Jacobe actually was serving for the match in the fourth set before the Al Nabhani brothers rallied and put the Islanders out of their misery in the fifth to claim the win and the tie, 7-6 (7-3) 5-7, 3-6 7-6(7-3), 6-4.

With the loss, the Islanders will be relegated to Group III of Davis Cup for 2009 after losing the first three rubber in the tie with Oman. The reverse singles was played yesterday but results were still not available as of press time.

According to Oceania Tennis, Pacific Oceania fought right to the end but eventually succumbed in five sets in the doubles.

The first set of the doubles went all the way to a tiebreaker without a loss of service although the Islanders’ pair of Jacobe and Baudinet had to save five set points in the 10th game.

Oman controlled the tiebreak, winning the last four points to claim it 7-3. The third set went with serve until the 12th game when the Pacific Oceania pair broke serve to take the set 7-5. Growing in confidence Pacific Oceania raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set before giving back one break. Baudinet eventually served out the set to give the visitors a two sets to one lead.

The fourth set was full of drama. Baudinet dropped serve in the fourth game after Jacobe missed two volleys. Oman then held to lead 5-2 before Pacific Oceania came roaring back breaking serve twice to set up a 6-5 lead with Jacobe to serve for the match.

At 30-all a winning return by Oman followed by a Jacobe double fault—where there was a 60-second interruption between first and second serve while one of the Omani players argued with the referee—saw the Pacific team’s chance slip away. Again, the tiebreak was lost 7-3 with Oman claiming the last four points.

The final set went with serve with Pacific Oceania unable to break despite twice having Oman at 0-40. At 3-3, disaster struck when Baudinet served his only double fault of the match to lose serve. Oman then held serve twice to claim the set 6-4 and the match in five sets.

Last Friday, Michael Leong of Solomon Islands was overpowered by the big serve and brutal forehand of Khalid Al Nabhani in the opening match, 1-6, 6-7 (3-7), 4-6.

Juan Sebastian Langton of Samoa, meanwhile, fared much better against Mohammed Al Nabhani, but lost in a tight one nonetheless, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6.

Pacific Oceania was skippered by Cyrille Mainguy, while Majid Abdullah Mandhari was team captain for the victorious Oman side, which third player, Sulaiman Al Rawai, didn’t even see action in the first two days. He, however, was expected to play Sunday after the tie’s outcome was already decided.