All things tied after the first day of the Davis Cup Group II quarterfinal tie between Thailand and Sri Lanka which was worked off at the clay courts of Sri Lanka Tennis Association. Sri Lanka recorded a thrilling win at the start of the day; Thailand bounced back to equalize the situation to take it to a second and final day to decide victory.
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The day started off with a grand opening ceremony which highlighted the officials, ball kids, umpires and players alike. Sharmal Dissanayake of Royal College led the team in the 1st singles match against Thailand debutant Jiran Navasirisomboon in a heated battle. Sharmal with immense pressure on his shoulders, pulled off the 1st singles in straight sets 6/4, 7/5. Next on court was Yasitha De Silva for Sri Lanka going up against Thailand’s No.1 player Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul with a world rank of 453 in the singles category. With multiple missed opportunities, De Silva faced defeat after a hard fought 1 hour and 30 minutes with scores reading an even 6/3, 6/3.
Photos – Sri Lanka v Thailand – Davis Cup (Day 1)
Photos of Sri Lanka v Thailand – Davis Cup (Day 1)
1st Singles – Sharmal Dominance
After a total of 125 points played between the two, Sharmal came out claiming 67 to Jiran’s 58. Winning 57% of the points off his 1st serve and a whopping 75% off the 2nd Sharmal turned his service games into his strength. He managed to earn 10 break points in the match successfully converting 7 of them. The first two games of the match went on serve but Jiran broke early to go up 3/1. Sharmal managed to catch up level things off at 3/3 shortly after. It was not before Jiran broke serve again that Sharmal pulled up his socks and delivered a flawless 9th game of the match breaking back to go up 5/4, earning a chance to serve for the set; which he brilliantly did so.
The second set was pounced at by Jiran breaking the second game of the match. Sharmal calmed the waters again by levelling it out taking the play up to 5 games apiece. Breaking serve was crucial at this point for Sharmal and with brilliant form, he managed to do just that and went on to serve for the match. The scores read 7/5 in favour of Sharmal at the end of 89 minutes with a happy Sri Lankan bench looking at a worried troupe of Thais.
2nd Singles – World Ranker to the rescue
Holing high ranks in the world was Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul entering the 7th Davis Cup tie in his career. De Silva who is yet to record credit to his name in the international arena took to courts to take Sri Lanka undefeated at the end of day 1. Of 103 points at the end of 90 minutes, Wishaya maintained a firm grip of the match winning 61 points. Unlike the 1st singles, an array of 11 perfect aces were on display by both players. With a 100% track record of 1st serves wins, Wishaya bagged two breaks of serves early on in the first set and held the upper-hand throughout.
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After a 6/3 win in the first set, Wishaya mirrored the score timeline in the second set to win in straight sets over the disappointed Lankan youngster. Wishaya, bring hope back to the Thai bench left it all open on level ground again for the final day of play of this quarterfinal tie of the Asia/Oceania Davis Cup Group II fixture.
The final day’s proceedings with commence at 9.30am (Local time) with the doubles hitting the courts first.
ThePapare.com will bring you LIVE pictures off the venue from 9.15am so stay logged!
