Pacific Oceania draws Lebanon in Davis Cup

Pacific Oceania has drawn seeded Lebanon in the first round of next year’s Asia/Oceania Group II Davis Cup competition. The first round ties will be played over three days from March 4 to 6 on home soil.

Two singles matches will be played on the first day, one doubles on the second and the two reverse singles on the final day, according to the Oceania Tennis Federation.

The CNMI’s very own Jeff Race is the team captain of the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team. He is joined in the squad by up-and-coming youth netter Michael Leong of Solomon Islands and veterans Juan Langton of Samoa and Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands

Race seemed confident and upbeat about the team’s chances against the Middle East power.

“Lebanon is ‘in our league’ I believe. In 2003-2004 they had two players ranked ATP#1416. That means that they have one ATP point. They both play or played low in the lineup at the University of Mississippi. Their most experienced player played more than 150 matches in Futures events from 2000-2002, but hasn’t played much at that level since then. We can beat them! I think our chances are better than even,” said Race.

This marks the first time that Pacific Oceania has been awarded choice of ground. The islanders, therefore, have the right to stage a tie at a venue of its choice in the Pacific.

The Oceania Tennis Federation is expected to seek interest from Oceania nations who would like to host the March tie. Information will be sent to nations within the next few days.

If Pacific Oceania beats Lebanon they would have an away tie with the winner of the tie between Korea (the No. 2 seed) and the Philippines. Meanwhile, if Pacific Oceania losses then the second round tie would be at home against the loser of the Korea/Philippines match up. The second round ties will be played from July 15 to 17.

Pacific Oceania claimed one of two passes to next year’s Group II bash after topping Pool B in Davis Cup Group III competition last April at the Phu Thu Tennis Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The team went 4-0 in pool play defeating Tajikistan, Syria, Bahrain and host Vietnam before losing to a tough Kazakhstan team in the finals. Kazakhstan also recorded a perfect record in Pool A.

In related news, the other two nations in Oceania that participate in Davis Cup—Australia and New Zealand—have also been awarded home ties in the first round.

Australia will host Austria in the first round of the World Group. New Zealand, for its part, was relegated to Group II, the same as Pacific Oceania, when it lost its relegation tie against Pakistan, 3-2, in Islamabad. New Zealand is the top seed in Group II and will host Kazakhstan in the first tie between the two nations.