S. Korea drubs Indonesia 4-1 in Davis Cup
S. Korea drubs Indonesia 4-1 in Davis Cup
SEOUL (Agencies): South Korea and Indonesia split two singles
matches Sunday, giving South Korea a 4-1 victory in the second
round of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group 1 playoff.
Indonesia's Suwandi beat South Korea's Lee Seung-hoon 6-4, 6-
4.
Lee Hyung-taik, the world's 87th-ranked player, had been
scheduled to play Suwandi, but was replaced after South Korea
took an unbeatable 3-0 lead Saturday by winning the doubles
match. South Korea won both singles on Friday.
In the second singles match, South Korean Kim Dong-hyun
defeated Indonesian Andrian Raturandang 6-1, 6-2. Kim replaced
the initially scheduled Yoon Yong-il.
In Saturday's doubles, Yoon teamed up with Lee Hyung-taik,
whose career highlight is a fourth round showing at the U.S. Open
last year, to defeat Indonesia's Sulistyo Wibowo and Bonit
Wiryawan.
On Friday, Lee Hyung-taik beat Andrian and Yoon Yong-il
defeated Suwandi.
The matches were played at Seoul's Olympic Park outdoor court.
In Bangkok, victories by Paradorn Srichaphan and Danai
Udomchoke secured a 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash by Thailand over
China.
With the tie already decided by wins in the opening round of
singles and then the doubles on Saturday, the pressure was off
the host nation in matches that were reduced to the best of three
sets.
Paradorn made a shaky start before claiming a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5),
6-2 win over Zhang Yu. After saving four break points at 3-3 the
Thai was broken in the ninth game when he double-faulted and then
netted an attempted drop-shot.
The Thai also performed well in the final match of the tie,
overwhelming Wang Yu 6-0, 7-5. He dropped just seven points in
the opening set, and when Wang found his range in the second and
held break points to lead 5-4 and 6-5, Danai held him off and
then broke serve for the match.
In Tokyo, Indian ace Leander Paes was pushed to the limit as
India secured a playoff place in the Davis Cup World Group,
taking an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Japan Sunday.
Paes came out on top of a serve-and-volley battle on the
Ariake Coliseum hard court against Japan's Takao Suzuki, taking
the crucial last two sets for a 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4,
6-4 victory.
With the win, India qualified for a play-off in September
against one of the eight first round loser from this year's World
Group.
Japan's national champion Goichi Motomura took a consolation
win beating Harsh Mankad 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-3 in a match shortened
to three sets after the outcome of the tie was settled to pull
one back for 2-3.
The former world doubles number one pairing of Paes and Mahesh
Bhupathi also needed a grueling five sets to beat Suzuki and
Thomas Shimada 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday.
On Friday, Paes had dominated at the net to put India ahead
with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Yaoki Ishii. Suzuki leveled the tie
with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Bhupathi in the second singles
match.
In Invercargill, New Zealand, a painful buttock strain for New
Zealander Alistair Hunt was part of some cruel luck which denied
New Zealand a famous Davis Cup tennis victory against Uzbekistan
at Stadium Southland.
New Zealand lost the Asia-Oceania Group One final 3-2 after No
1 Mark Nielsen and Hunt both lost their reverse singles in
dramatic circumstances.
New Zealand went into Sunday's play leading 2-1 after Hunt and
James Greenhalgh had blitzed Oleg Ogorodov and Dmitri Tomashevich
in straight sets in Saturday's doubles.
New Zealand needed to win one of today's singles but Nielsen
lost 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 to Ogorodov.
Then a flat-looking Hunt failed to reproduce his form of
Friday to lose to Vadim Kutsenko 6-2, 6-7, 4-6, 5-7 in a touch
under three hours.