Pacific Oceania rises to No. 63

Pacific Oceania went up two places in the Davis Cup rankings following its 3-2 win over Malaysia in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II relegation tie held last weekend in Noumea, New Caledonia.

From 65th, the islanders improved to 63rd in the latest Davis Cup rankings posted at www.daviscup.com/ranking/current.asp with 128.8 points. Malaysia, for its part, maintained its 80th ranking with 25 points, but returned to Group III after being promoted to Group II last year.

Pacific Oceania team captain Jeff Race of the CNMI was happy with the promotion and said that the islanders being ranked in the upper half of the 139-nation Davis Cup is a great development in terms of sports for the region.

“Nice! I think anything in the 60s range is good for us considering that we started ranked 127th a couple of years ago. No. 63 is a good ranking,” he said.

Race said the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team is looking forward to playing in Group II again next year and said that he doesn’t expect to make changes in the composition of the team.

“I think for the most part, we have our best four guys on the team. There are only one or two guys within their skill range that could really be considered, but they are in college right now and really can’t get away to play for Davis Cup. We will definitely take a look at them in the future, but for the meantime, we’re happy with the performance of our four players. As long as our current players maintain the level that they’re at, I think we’re pretty much set,” he said.

For the record, the islanders are made up of Michael Leong of Solomon Islanders, West Nott of Marshall Islanders, Juan Sebastian Langton of Samoa, and Brett Baudinett of Cook Islands.

Trailing 1-2 coming into the third and final day of the tie, Pacific Oceania clinched the victory against Malaysia by sweeping the reverse singles Sunday, April 9, on the hardcourts at Ligue Caledonienne de Tennis Stadium, headquarters of Ligue Caledonienne de tennis.

Leong dominated Malaysia’s No. 1 Yew-Ming Si, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, in the first game and Langton took out a fatigued Selvam Veerasingam, 6-2, 6-1, 4-5 (retired). Langton subbed for Nott, who didn’t recover fully from the cramps that plagued him three days before.

In April 8’s doubles, Si and Veerasingam put Malaysia ahead 2-1 when they downed Baudinet and Langton, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3).

In the first day, April 7, the teams split the opening singles. Si beat Nott 2-6, 1-6, 1-2 (retired) and Leong defeated Veerasingam 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

The two other players that were on the roster for Malaysia, but didn’t see action, were Razvan Rawi and Shi-Hao “Jonathan” Yip. Serving as team captain was Muliyadi Bin Jamal.

Malaysia previously defeated Pacific Oceania, 3-0, in Malaysia in 2003; 3-0 again in 1999 in Bangladesh; 2-1 in 1997 in Qatar; and 2-1 in 1996 in the United Arab Emirates.

Other Asia/Oceania Group II results saw Kazakhstan reach the finals for the first time in its history with a comfortable victory against New Zealand. It now hosts Indonesia, bidding for an immediate return to Group I, which eased past Hong Kong. Kuwait, meanwhile, crushed Lebanon to preserve its Group II status and send its near-neighbors down to Group III for the first time since 1996.

Asia/Oceania Group I results saw Thailand win the opening three rubbers to secure victory against Japan and qualify for the World Group playoffs for the fourth time in five years.

Hyung-Taik Lee, meanwhile, contributed three points in Korea’s 4-1 victory over Chinese-Taipei, which extended his country’s winning streak to a record five ties following its promotion from Group II last year, and earned Korea a World Group playoff spot for the first time since 1997.

India and Uzbekistan guaranteed their places in Group I in 2007 with victories in the first round of the relegation playoffs. Uzbekistan coasted to victory over China but India was taken down to the wire by Pakistan. Leander Paes survived losing a two-set lead in the final rubber to beat Aqeel Khan and improved his win-loss record in Davis Cup rubbers to 78-30, climbing to sixth on the all-time list. Pakistan and China must now playoff in September to avoid relegation to Group II.

Oman and United Arab Emirates, which both narrowly missed out on promotions last year, comfortably topped their round-robin pools in Asia/Oceania Group IV to win promotion to Group III in 2007.