Pacific Oceania goes up 2-0 lead against Lebanon

Michael Leong of Solomon Islands and Juan Langton of Western Samoa conspired to give underdog Pacific Oceania an early 2-0 lead in the first round of the Asia/Oceania Group 2 Davis Cup competition, which kicked off Friday at the Dr. Robin Mitchell Regional Tennis Centre in Lautoka, Fiji.

Top seed Leong won a marathon five-set match against Lebanon’s No. 2 player Patrick Chucri and gave team captain Jeff Race of the CNMI and his three other teammates a 1-0 lead against 57th-ranked Lebanon.

Leong played a very good first set, hardly missing a shot and chasing down a series of drop shots by his much taller and more experienced opponent.

The game was knotted at 3-all in the first set when Leong unleashed his fabled game, winning three games in a row to claim the opening set 6-3.

Chucri was more focused in the second and it showed as he raced to a 3-0 lead. After Leong took the fourth game to cut his deficit to 1-3, the 23-year-old Lebanese kicked his game up another notch and took the set 6-2, leveling the game at a set apiece.

The third set looked like it would be a repeat of the second, as Chucri powered to a 3-0 lead.

Leong, on cue, took the fourth set, and rather than wilt against the Beirut native’s aggressive play—like he did in the previous set—the 18-year-old cooked up a storm of his own and reeled off five straight games to outlast Chucri to take a two sets to one lead.

The fourth set was again full of drama as Leong led 3-0 and then 5-3 when Chucri began to feel the first stages of leg cramps.

After a medical timeout, Chucri appeared to be recovered and won four straight games, breaking Leong’s serve twice to take the set 7-5 and level the match at two sets all.

More twists and turns were to follow in the fifth and deciding set, as Leong broke serve and held a 2-0 lead before Chucri began to cramp up again in the hot and humid conditions.

After being unable to continue because of cramps in his calf muscle at 3-0, the Lebanese player was forced to concede the match to Leong, allowing the youngster to escape with a hard-earned 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 3-0 (retired) victory.

No. 2 Langton then gave 77th seed Pacific Oceania an improbable 2-0 lead against Lebanon, as the 21-year-old defeated the Middle East country’s top seed Karim Alayli in the day’s second and last singles match.

Alayli showed a lot of resiliency in the first set against the 2004 South Pacific Games gold medalist, as he came charging back from 3-4 down to force a tiebreaker against Langton. The Lebanese then got the better of Langton in the tiebreak 8-6.

Langton took control of the match in the beginning on the second set. He used his topspin backhand to hit several great winners and served a series of aces as he handily took the second set 6-3.

The third set was again all Langton, as he cruised through in a score of 6-1. In the fourth set, Langton continued down the same path and appeared on the verge of wrapping up the match, on top 5-3.

It was at that moment that Alayli suddenly came back to life and evened things up at 5-5.

Langton, however, quickly doused cold water on Alayli’s comeback hopes, breaking serve and then holding serve in the next two games to win the set and the match, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.

Other members of the Pacific Oceania team are Brett Baudinet of Cook Islands and Cyril Jacobe of Vanuatu. Race, a veteran of many Davis Cup wars, serves as non-playing team captain.

The Davis Cup tie between the two nations resumed yesterday with the lone doubles match featuring Baudinet and Jacobe against Lebanon’s Chucri and Jicham Zaatani. Results were not available as of press time. The Pacific Oceania-Lebanon tiff concludes with reverse singles this morning with Leong facing Alayli and Langton squaring off against Churci.