The Philippines scored a 5-0 sweep over Sri Lanka in the Asia Oceania Group II Davis Cup tie at the Valle Verde Country Club court in Pasig on Sunday and trained its eyes on the tough round two clash with the favored Chinese-Taipei team in Taipei in mid July.
Doubles specialist Treat Huey called upon to play the first reverse singles cruised through the first set 6-1 against 18 year old Sharmal Dissanayake in a mere 30 minutes rattling off five games in a row after Dissanaye held serve to make it 1-1.
Three sizzling aces in the first set the tone but the talented Sri Lankan who wasn?t awed by the reputation and the world No. 60 doubles ranking of Huey capitalized on three double faults by the Filipino to take the second set 6-3 and set up a third set decider.
Huey with three aces that overshadowed his two double faults jumped on the four double faults of Dissanayke to grab a 3-0 lead after a fourth deuce before bthe 18 year old also clawed through five deuces to hold serve at 1-3.
But that was as far as Huey was prepared to let him go with the lefty hammering some classic crosscourt and down the line winners to wrap up the set 6-1 and the best-of-three sets match.
Francis Casey ?Nino? Alcantara, fresh from a rewarding stint at Pepperdine University broke Dinesh Thangarajah twice to race to a 3-0 lead in nthe first set but was broken in the 4th game and when Thangarajah held serve it was 2-3.
Nino, with some immaculate drop shots and volleys held serve to go up 4-2 before he broke the Sri Lankan in Game 7 to go up 5-2 and served out the set 6-2 anchored on four aces that effectively erased .his four double faults.
Three more aces in the second set were wiped out by five double faults by Alcantara while Thangarajah had three resulting in the Sri Lankan staying in the set at 3-3.
But a break of service by Alcantara who went ahead 4-3 and then held serve to make it 5-3 set the stage when the 23 year old Filipino sealed the deal with a 6-3 win as Thangarajah double faulted at a crucial moment.
The 5-0 sweep didn?t reflect the struggle that the Sri Lankans put up. The experience both sides gained is certain to boost their competitive chances in their next ties with the Philippines playing Chinese-Taipei ad Sri Lanka facing a much easier tie against Lebanon in Colombo.
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