Pacific Oceania draws HK in first round

Pacific Oceania would play Hong Kong in the first round of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II competition in 2006.

This was confirmed Friday in an e-mail sent by Oceania Tennis Federation executive officer Patrick O’Rourke, who wrote that the islanders would be facing the former British colony on hostile ground from Feb. 10 to Feb. 12.

“When the draw for the 2006 Davis Cup was completed in Paris on Sept. 29, Pacific Oceania drew China Hong Kong in the first round. China Hong Kong are fourth seeds and have choice of venue so the tie will be held in Hong Kong.

According to O’Rourke, Hong Kong has enjoyed considerable success in Group II in the past, but was relegated to Group III in 2005. They won the Group III competition and have returned to Group II for 2006. He said the right to host the tie was decided by coin toss, which Pacific Oceania lost.

Despite losing home-court advantage in the first round, O’Rourke said Pacific Oceania was able to get a consolation of sorts when the islanders were awarded a home tie in the second round, provided they beat Hong Kong.

He said Pacific Oceania would play either second seed Indonesia or Malaysia in the second round, as the coin toss against the two nations favored a home tie for Pacific Oceania.

The second round tie against either of the two countries will be played from April 7 to April 9 in a still undisclosed venue in the Pacific, as OTF has yet to make a decision where the home tie would be held. O’Rourke said a decision on the venue would be made at the end of the year.

According to O’Rourke, Pacific Oceania team captain Jeff Race of the CNMI was not particularly happy when the seeds for the 2006 Davis Cup were announced. He said the longtime CNMI National Tennis Team coach felt Pacific Oceania deserved a seeding because of its semifinal finish in Group II in 2005.

The other Oceania nation in Group II, top seed New Zealand, will have a February home tie against Lebanon. Oceania’s representative in the World Group, Australia, meanwhile, faces a potentially difficult away tie to Switzerland in the first round.

The draw for the 2006 Davis Cup ties caps a very successful campaign for the islanders, a year that saw Pacific Oceania retain its place in Group II.

Last March, Pacific Oceania went up against seeded Lebanon in Lautoka, Fiji in its first Davis Cup tie in home soil in years.

Serving as full-time team captain, Race led a team made up of Michael Leong of Solomon Islands, Juan Langton of Western Samoa, Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands, and Cyril Jacobe of Vanuatu in an upset of seeded Lebanon.

With the Middle East powerhouse underestimating the team, the islanders raced to a 2-0 lead by sweeping the opening singles. Although, Lebanon took the doubles, Leong finished the job by winning the first of two reverse singles to allow Pacific Oceania to advance to the semis of Group II.

Race and company, however, ran smack into a runaway freight train when it opposed top seeded South Korea in hostile ground last July in Seoul. With ATP-ranked players leading the East Asian nation’s charge, Pacific Oceania was swept 5-0, this despite Race replacing Jacobe with former Georgia Tech tennis standout West Nott of the Marshall Islands.