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.