Guam- Pacific Oceania’s Davis Cup team will be looking to remain in Group II Asia/Oceania for a third straight year with a team win against Iran this weekend in relegation play-off matches at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa tennis courts.
Play begins on Friday at 10 a.m. with singles matches in a best-of-five set format. Doubles action is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday and reverse singles matches are scheduled to begin 10 a.m. Sunday. The loser of the match-up will drop down to Group III in the Asia/Oceania zone.
Although Pacific Oceania holds a higher Davis Cup ranking than Iran – No. 67 to No. 82, this weekend’s contest will not be easy for the home team. Iran has played 85 ties, with a 43-42 win-loss record, while Pacific Oceania has played 62 ties with a 31-31 win-loss record, the Davis Cup Web site states.
In first round action in March, Pacific Oceania lost to Thailand, 5-0. During the same weekend, Iran fell to Indonesia 3-2 to set up the relegation play-off with Pacific Oceania. The two teams last played each other in 2002 in Group III Asia/Oceania zone round robin play, with Iran winning 2-1.
The Iranian players posting the two wins against Indonesia, Anoosha Shahgholi and Shahin Khaledan, have been nominated to play against Pacific Oceania. Shahgholi has recorded the most wins in Davis Cup play for Iran in the country’s 37-year participation with an overall 25-19 record. Other team members are Ashkan Shokoofi and Rouzbeh Kamran, both veterans to Davis Cup play.
Solomon Islands’ Michael Leong, and Vanuatu’s Cyril Jacobe, part of the team that competed in March against Thailand, return to compete this weekend. Marshall Islands’ West Nott, a five-tie Davis Cup veteran and Guam’s Daniel Llarenas, who makes his debut in Davis Cup play, will join Leong and Jacobe to represent Pacific Oceania.
Leong holds the record in most singles wins in Davis Cup play for Pacific Oceania with an 18-11 win-loss record. Leong’s overall record is 19-14, third in the region behind the late Lency Tenai (27-21) and Juan-Sebastian Langton (23-21). From the current team, Jacobe has played the most ties at 21 and has played the longest, making his debut in 1999.
Hilton Guam Resort & Spa becomes the first and only location to play host to two Davis Cup ties and a Futures professional tournament in the same calendar year, according to Scott Ray, the ITF supervisor from last month’s Futures tournament.
For more information, contact Torgun Smith at 687-5483.
Information from a press release.
frankie@spbguam.com
