By Kristel Satumbaga
Stefanos Tsitsipas ended the country’s ambitious bid to play in a bigger stage by dumping Jeson Patrombon, 6-2, 6-1, in a win that enabled the Greeks to win their World Group II Davis Cup playoff tie yesterday at the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) claycourt.
Showing he belongs to a different league, the world No. 6 needed just 62 minutes in dispatching Patrombon and finishing off the Filipino Cuppers, 3-1.
Earlier, Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales kept to the country’s flickering hopes alive by pulling off a stunning 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Petros Tsitsipas and Markos Kalovelonis in a tense doubles match.
But the ruggedly handsome Stefanos restored order by playing just hard enough to beat Patrombon.
Pumped up by the energetic crowd, Alcantara and Gonzales showed chemistry especially in the crucial stretches despite playing together for the first time since 2017.
Stefanos Tsitsipas needed just 53 minutes to beat AJ Lim in the first singles match Friday, 6-2, 6-1, while Petros equally unforgiving in a 6-2, 6-1 win over Patrombon.
“The crowd was amazing. There’s a big reason why we played very well: it’s because of them,” said Gonzales on his first Davis Cup tie in three years.
“The crowd pumped us. We were down na, but it was the crowd who gave us the energy to keep going,” Alcantara said.
EMPTY ARENAS
In Paris, Davis Cup qualifying got underway Friday under the shadow of the deadly coronavirus with fist bumps instead of handshakes, ball boys and girls keeping their distance from sweat-stained towels and two ties even played out in eerily-empty arenas.
With matches taking place from Australia to Japan to Europe and in South America and Hawaii, 12 teams are bidding to join defending champions Spain, 2019 runners-up Canada, semi-finalists Great Britain and Russia, as well as wildcards France and Serbia in the Madrid finals in November.
Two of Friday’s encounters had to be staged behind closed doors with spectators banned in Miki, where Japan are hosting Ecuador, and in Cagliari as Italy faced South Korea.
“Conditions were strange,” said Italian No. 1 and world 11 Fabio Fognini after cruising past 251-ranked Lee Duck-hee 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour at the Circolo Tennis venue. (With a report from AFP)
