The first day of the eagerly anticipated Davis Cup Encounter between Sri Lanka and the Philippines came to a close at 4.30 pm with both teams scoring vital victories in the all- important singles matches.
First Singles- Harshana wins a five set thriller
The first match up of the day was between Sri Lanka’s premier Davis Cup player Harshana Godamanna and Patrick- John Tierro of the Phillipines.
Tierro chose to receive after winning the toss and much to the delight of the local supporters Godamanna held serve to give Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the first set.
Tierro who is considered the young gun of the visiting team was up for the challenge as both players served decisively in order to take the score to 2-2. Godamanna’s serve was given its first test when Tierro had two break points in the fifth game but the experienced Lankan used his powerful serve to get himself out of trouble and take the score onto 3-2. The decisive break came in the very next game as Harshana who was cheered on by his fans broke serve and charged to a 4-2. He went onto use his rock solid ground strokes and great speed to good effect as he won the first set 6-3.
Godamanna who had the support of the home crowd was in the driving seat as he cruised to a 5-3 lead in the second set. Tierro successfully held his serve to stay in the set as the score moved onto 5-4. It was at that point that the game turned around as Harshana suffered a lapse in concentration which led to Tierro breaking back and taking the set into a tie breaker. The tie break went down to the wire as both players produced some fantastic tennis that had the entire crowd on the edge of their seats. Tierro turned on the heat just when it mattered and much to the horror of the Sri Lankan contingent he went onto win the tie break 10-8.
Tierro started the third set with a new found confidence that proved to be the decisive factor of the set as he played with great calm and poise that rattled the more experienced Sri Lankan. The player from the Phillipines played some swashbuckling forehands and back hands and served well in order to win the third set 6-4
Harshana was under pressure to turn things around and score a win for the Sri Lankans and he did so by elevating his level of play such that he made the task of winning points against the tricky Tierro look effortless. He punished Tierro from the baseline with his relentless ground strokes and went on to break the Philippine players serve on two occasions which led to him winning the fourth set 6-2
The fifth and final set was of the utmost importance to both countries as both players had a chance to take their respective nation’s one step closer to the second round of the tournament. Godamanna started the decisive set off in style as he held serve and showed the Sri Lankan fans and most importantly Tierro that he meant business. Tierro struck back by holding serve to love and continued to play gritty tennis in order to challenge the Sri Lankan. Harshana scored the decisive break of the set in the eighth game as he broke serve to love to go into a 5-3 lead which meant that he would serve for the match in the next game. The talented Harshana held his nerve and his serve and went onto complete his epic comeback by winning the fifth set 6-3.
Final Result- Harshana Godamanna (SL) bt Patrick John Tierro 6-3 6-7(10-8) 4-6 6-2 6-3
Second Singles- Ruben Gonzales dispatches Dineshkanthan Thangarajah with ease
The second match of the day was between the Sri Lankan Dineshkanthan Thangarajah and the big serving dangerous player from the Philippines Ruben Gonzales.
Gonzales won the toss and chose to serve and it was very evident as to why he chose the option of serving as he hammered down two aces and another two big serves to go into a 1-0 lead. Dinesh held onto his own serve however he found it impossible to read the serve of his superior opponent as the player from the Philippines went into a 2-1 lead. The next game was a close one however Dinesh’s serve was broken and the break proved to be decisive as Gonzales played with great control to march into the lead and with his lead came the first set with a score of 6-3.
The second set was a repeat of the first set as Gonzales continued to use his powerful serve to great effect. He made the difficult task of serving aces look easy as he tormented Dinesh time and time again with varying top spin, flat and slice services. In addition to holding his serve he broke the Lankan’s serve twice in order to win the second set 6-3
Gonzales showed no mercy in the third set as he started to increase the accuracy of his ground strokes which created greater problems for Dinesh. The errors started mounting as far as the Sri Lankan was concerned as he realized the match was slipping away from him. Gonzales was ruthless as he completed his victory in style with a score line of 6-0 in the third set.
Final Result- Ruben Gonzales (Phi) bt Dineshkanthan Thangarajah 6-3 6-3 6-0
The score line of the tie between the two countries stands at one match each with one doubles and two more singles matches left to be played. The doubles match will be played on the 31t of January (Saturday) and the reverse singles matches will be played on the 1st of February (Sunday).
