Pacific Oceania subdues Tajikistan in Davis Cup

TEHRAN, Iran—Friday, April 12 was an incredible day for the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team in Tehran, Iran. The competition was unbelievably tight in each tie, testing the playing and coaching skills of the entire team.

After completing pool play the difference for the Jeff Race-led squad between a record of 0-3 and 3-0 was a mere three strikes of the ball.

However, of those three shots, two of them have gone the islanders’ way, and the Pacific Oceania team now has landed squarely on the top group for the second phase of the event with a 2-1 record.

Having narrowly beaten Saudi Arabia on the first day with an 8-6 third set win in the No. 2 singles and a marathon 14-12 win in the doubles, this level of drama continued throughout the first phase of competition.

Three straight days of rain in Tehran left the organizers scrambling to find suitable indoor sites as an alternative, and as a result the team was not able to play its second tie against Tajikistan on Thursday.

This put them in the unenviable position of playing two ties on Friday, April 12.

As the squad took the court against the Tajiks on Friday, it was Pacific Oceania’s Leon So’onalole of Samoa who first took the court and the first set against his opponent. After Tajikistan leveled the match at a set all and went up 5-3 in the final set, Leon fought hard, saving six match points before going down 5-7.

Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands again played No.1 for the Pacific Oceania team but lost his match 6-1, 6-2. However, given the format for the competition any ties may be decided by matches won, so the doubles was remained important to the team, and in an extended third set Brett and Juan Langton (Samoa) managed an 8-6 victory against a tough and experienced Tajik team.

After only a few hours rest the boys from the islands were back out on the court for the final tie of the pool play against Syria. Syria’s No.1 player appeared heads and shoulders above the other players in this Group III event and believing that this tie would be decided in the doubles, team captain Race held the big serving Brett Baudinet out to be fresh for the doubles.

Juan Langton then play in his Davis Cup singles debut in the No.2 spot. Juan began the match with a serious case of nerves, dropping the first set 0-6.

However, Race used this as motivation and lit a fire under the 18-year-old Samoan. Juan responded well and quickly took the second set 6-1. Then the battle truly began.

In the Davis Cup, the final set is played out with no tiebreaker, and as the third set progressed past the normal point of a tiebreaker, the Iranian crowd seemed to have adopted Langton as their own in a match that was shown live on Iranian television. At one point at 8-all Langton had a break point against Syria but slid to his stomach on the clay court while trying to reach a passing shot.

Somehow while laying down he managed to reach behind and get his racket on the ball, lofting a weak shot short and setting up his opponent. But he quickly sprang to his feet as the ball came rocketing towards him he hit an incredible volley that skinned the line and was ruled good.

Broken again in the next game, however, the set went on as the volume of the crowd grew in intensity with each shot and the captains urged their players to fight on.

Nearly an hour later, the weary combatants still battled, with Langton at times gaining match points. Finally attempting to break serve at 13-12 on his fifth match point, the young Samoan struck a forehand that hit the tape, defied gravity for a moment, and toppled into his opponents court.

It was bedlam as the crowd went wild. The tie was not over but Juan and the Pacific Oceania team had a good chance to win.

Leon Soonalole then took the court to play Syria’s strong first seed. But the big, quiet 16-year-old showed his opponent no respect as he came from 3-5 down with a barrage of winners to take a 6-5 lead. A tiebreaker followed with So’onalole going up 5-2 before the moment caught up with him and he lost the breaker 5-7 and 2-6 in the second set. Fortunately, his outstanding play had provided Langton with a much-needed rest as Brett and Juan took to the court for the decisive doubles.

The Pacific Oceania team has had a strong history in Davis Cup doubles and Baudinet and Race were able to keep a tired Langton pumped up throughout the match as they went on to a 6-3, 6-1 win and a 2-1 victory over Syria in the tie.

“It was an unbelievable day for our team to have played two ties in one day and finish with a winning record,” said team captain Race. “We returned to the hotel mentally and physically exhausted, but happy to be moving forward in the competition.”