The Lebanese pair of Giovani Samaha and Hady Habir put on a spirited display of tennis in order to overcome the Lankan duo of Harshana Godamanna and Dineshkanthan Thangarajah in a mammoth five set encounter. The final score of 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 in favour of the visitors gave Lebanon some fighting hope ahead of Sundays reverse singles in the two countries all important relegation play off.
Sri Lanka came into today’s doubles rubber with a crucial 2-0 lead secured by wins courtesy Godamanna and Sharmal Dissanayake who won their singles matches played yesterday. A win for the home team would have effectively ended the tie but the Lebanese pair had different ideas which proved to be the case right from the outset as they broke Thangarajahs opening service game of the first set. The visitors held on to the crucial service break and looked in fine shape to close out the first set, however the Lankans hit back with a break of their own in the tenth game to level the scores at five games all. The set progressed into a tie break and it was the Lebanese combination that stepped their game up a notch in order to win the breaker 7-4.
The Lankans hit back strongly in the second set as they played tennis close to perfection in order to break Samaha’s serve on two occasions and win the set 6-2. With the momentum and crowd completely in favour of the Lankans it appeared that the home side will pull through and close out the tie. However to the dismay of the local fans the Lebanese pairing dug deep to recover strongly. It was a case of just one break of serve backed up by consistent serving and strong net play that did the trick for the visitors who won the set 6-3.
The fourth set witnessed yet another shift in momentum as the Lankans put themselves firmly in the driving seat. Both Godamanna and Thangarajah upped their first serve percentages making it nearly impossible for the visitors to get an opportunity of breaking serve. This was backed up by relentless pressure being put on Samahas and Habirs serves that worked well for the Lankans as they secured an elusive break of serve to win the fourth set 6-3.
With the match hanging in the balance at two sets apiece the atmosphere was unbelievably tense. The Lankan pair started off on a high as they broke Habir’s serve and consolidated the break to race off to a 2-0 lead in the final set. But there was to be another twist in the tale as the Lebanese pair won three games on the trot to go into a 3-2 lead. Although Godamanna held serve to make it three games all, the thought of squandering a service break seemed to play on the minds of the local pair as everything seemed to go downhill for the home side. The Lebanese pair capitalized on every opportunity presented to them from that point onwards and played steady tennis to win the fifth and final set 6-3 and close the deficit in the tie to two matches to one.
The reverse singles are scheduled to take place today and will decide the fate of the two countries who are seeking to keep their place in group 2 of the Asia Oceania zone of the Davis Cup.
