S. Korea completes sweep of islanders

Top seed South Korea completed a sweep of its Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II semifinal tie against Pacific Oceania by winning both reverse singles yesterday at Seoul’s Olympic Tennis Court.

Jae-Sung An saw action against the islanders’ Michael Leong of Solomon Islands and fared better than compatriot and South Korea No. 1 Sun-Young Kim after beating Pacific Oceania’s top seed in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

Kim needed four sets to dispose of Leong in the opening singles on the first day of the tie Friday.

Juan Langton of Western Samoa then took over from West Nott of Marshall Islands in the second of the reverse singles against Kim. Langton showed some flashes of brilliance, but in the end succumbed to the South Korean’s well-rounded game, also in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

Oceania Tennis Federation executive officer Patrick O’Rourke, who joined the team’s trip to the South Korean capital, said Leong had some good moments against An.

He, however, was not able to get on a roll, which was crucial especially with the abbreviated scoring implemented in the final day of the competition.

O’Rourke reported that the opening set was characterized by long rallies, which zapped both players’ energy. He said eventually An broke Leong’s serve and took the initiative by hitting a series of winners to close out the set.

The Solomon Islander appeared to have found his second wind early in next set and gave his opponent some fits by breaking serve in the second game. Leong would go up 3-0, but the South Korean’s big hitting soon returned and Leong was once again backed up on the ropes.

O’Rourke said Leong had a chance to take a 4-2 lead, but An was simply superb in his shot-making and soon took the lead, 4-3. He would then win the next two games to put an end to Leong’s gutsy performance.

Langton, who was replaced in the singles by Nott on the first day because of a lingering cold contracted on the flight over from Sydney, was finally able to play in singles this time.

But it wouldn’t have come against a more challenging player, as Langton went up against Kim, who is the No. 4 junior player in the world.

O’Rourke said Langton fought really well and his free-hitting style produced many winners. After recovering an early break to reach four-all in the first set Langton was again broken and lost the set.

The second set was again very competitive until Langton was broken at 3-4. Kim then served out the match.

The East Asian powerhouse actually took the tie with a victory in the doubles match Saturday giving it an unassailable 3-0 advantage.

In that game Oh-Hee Kwon and Woong-Sun Jun took our Langton and longtime partner Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands 6-1, 6-0, 6-4.

On Friday, Leong fell to Kim in a score of 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Nott experienced the same fate in the hands of Jun, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1.

Despite the loss to South Korea, Pacific Oceania still maintained its place in Group II of the Davis Cup. South Korea, meanwhile, would take on New Zealand in the finals of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II after the Kiwis defeated Kuwait. Gap-taik Roh served as captain for the victorious South Korean team, while Jeff Race of the CNMI captained Pacific Oceania.