Davis Cup

2021:

In mid-September, the Pacific Oceania 2021 Davis Cup team of Colin Sinclair (NMI), Clement Mainguy (VAN), Brett Baudinet (CI), Heimanarii Lai San (TAH), and Richard Breen (Fiji-non playing captain) etched their names in the annuals of Pacific Oceania tennis history when they were promoted to Group II in a thrilling final doubles match in Amman, Jordan. This is the first time in 10 years that Pacific Oceania have been in World Group II with Colin Sinclair (NMI) unbeaten in Singles throughout all Pacific Oceania rubbers. He was “head and shoulders” above any other singles player at Jordan. In the final rubber, Brett Baudinet (CI), playing in his 59th Davis Cup Tie teamed up with Colin Sinclair (NMI) to beat the Syrian Doubles pairing of Kareem AL Allaf/Hazem Naw 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4. Team Captain Richard Breen said that “This was the best he had ever seen Brett Baudinet play. He had stepped his game up for this “must-win” decider; that there were 2 critical turning points in the final set; Syria were up a break at 2-1 and serving at 40/15 with 2 game points but both Colin (playing in the deuce court) and Brett (playing in the backhand court) produced 2 unbelievable and unplayable return of serves to take the game to deuce and then eventually to level at 2-2. Then later in the final set at 4 games-all and deuce, following a rally of over 20 hits the Syrian player hit a ferocious forehand down the tram lines of the court, Colin Sinclair reached out and just got the tip of his racquet to it and it just dropped over the net to give our team break point which they converted to make the score 5-4.” They then broke Syria to win the final and deciding set with the Tie Point being decided by a fortuitous double fault.

Heimanarii Lai San (TAH), Clement Mainguy (VAN), Brett Baudinet (CI), Colin Sinclair (NMI), Richard Breen (FIJ)

9 Nations competed in this Davis Cup Event by Rakuten v.i.z Hong Kong China, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pacific Oceania, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Syria and Vietnam. Pacific Oceania, Hong Kong China and Vietnam were promoted to Group II in 2022 and Kuwait, Qatar and Sri Lanka were relegated to Group IV.
Participation in this Event proved extremely challenging for Pacific Oceania as 2 originally selected players, Matthew Stubbings (PNG) and Matavao Fanguna (TON) had to withdraw for personal and Managed Isolation Quarantine return hotel unavailability into New Zealand respectively. Matavao Fanguna had previously won a Gold Medal at the 2019 Pacific Games and would have been only the 2nd player from Tonga to play Davis Cup for Pacific Oceania, the first being Motuliki Kailahi who made his debut in 1995 vs United Arab Emirates. He went on to play 10 Ties with a 13 win/6 loss record. This Event was originally scheduled to be played in the week commencing the 14^th June in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. It was then subsequently postponed to the week commencing the 23^rd August due to Covid-19 border issues in Vietnam and then subsequently again was both postponed and finally relocated to Amman, Jordan.

In initial Pool Play, there were 3 Groups each with 3 Nations with World Ranking in Brackets.

On Day 1 of Pool Play, Pacific Oceania came within 1 point of producing the upset of the day in Pool B but finally lost 2-1 to the 2nd Seed, Vietnam. All 3 Matches (2 Singles and 1 Doubles) went to 3 Sets. Clement Mainguy (VAN), playing in his 1st Davis Cup Tie, had match point against his more seasoned opponent, Linh Giang Trinh (VIE) but was finally beaten 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 2hrs 08m on the very fast hard courts. Captain, Richard Breen, commented that on the match point he hit, “a forehand down the line that just tipped the top of the net and fell to the wrong side of the court, so the winning of the match was a matter of millimetres. In the 2nd Singles match the #1 Pacific Oceania player, Colin Sinclair (NMI), with a World Singles Ranking of 723 played a similarly ranked player Nam Hoang Ly (VIE) who has a World Singles Ranking of 782. Again, this match went to 3 sets with Colin Sinclair (NMI) winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a 2hr 12m match in 35C heat. The Tie then came down to the deciding Doubles Match with the Pacific Oceania pairing of Colin Sinclair (NMI)/Brett Baudinet (CI), playing against Quoc-Khanh Le (VIE)/Nam Hoang Ly (VIE). The Vietnamese pairing finally prevailed in 1hr 44mins 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The Pacific Oceania Team had 17 break point opportunities but could only covert 1 of these (6%).

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team then won their final Pool Match 2-1 against Qatar to qualify for the Promotional Play Offs. Debutante Clement Mainguy (VAN), playing in only his 2nd Davis Cup Tie, got the Tie off to the perfect start beating his Qatar opponent, Rashed Nawaf 6-3, 7-5. The match started perfectly with Clement Mainguy breaking his opponent’s serve in the 1st game of the match to then take out the 1st set 6-3. The 2nd set was much closer with both players dropping serve twice earlier in the Set. But the pivotal game was the 12th game with his opponent, Rashed Nawaf, having just broken serve to lead the 2nd Set 6-5 and 40-15. Clement Mainguy then produced in the words of Captain, Richard Breen (FIJ) “2 of the best points he had ever seen Clement Mainguy play.” He said that “they were the most perfectly constructed points he had seen him play where he returned the serves well and then used both the depth and angle of his shots to completely open up the court for 2 winners” to take the Set to deuce. He then won the next 2 points to then win the 2nd Set and the match 6-3, 7-5. Richard Breen said that 2 pleasing aspects of Clement Mainguy’s match play was that “he converted 5 out of 5 break point opportunities but additionally his 1st serve percentage was a lot higher than his previous match at 68%.”
The next Singles match was between the two #1 players from Pacific Oceania, Colin Sinclair (NMI) and Mousa Shanan Zayed (QAT). Colin Sinclair dominated this match from the 1st game to then win the match easily in 45 minutes 6-1, 6-0. This then gave Pacific Oceania an unassailable lead 2-0 to go through the promotional Play Offs.
Pacific Oceania Captain, Richard Breen, then decided to rest Colin Sinclair in the dead Doubles Rubber which gave another debutante, Heimanarii Lai San (TAH) the opportunity to pair up with veteran Brett Baudinet against their Qatar opponents, Sultan Khalfan AL Alawi/ Mousa Shanan Zayed. The Qatar pairing were too strong winning the match 6-0, 6-2.

In 2022, The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team have been drawn in the World Group II Play Offs to play Estonia in Estonia on the weekend of the 4^th/5^th March.

2020:

Due to Covid-19, Pacific Oceania did not compete in Davis Cup

2019:

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team of Colin Sinclair (NMI), Heve Kelley (TAH), Brett Baudinet (CI), Matthew Stubbings (PNG) and Rob Krause (FIJ)-captain travelled to Amman, Jordan in the week commencing 9^th September with the goal of being promoted to Group III. Fourteen (14) Nations from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guam, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Oman, Pacific Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UAE competed with the intent of the being one of the two Nations to be promoted. Pacific Oceania seeded #1 in Pool A.
The Pools were:
Pool A: Pacific Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh
Pool B: Oman. Bahrain, Iraq
Pool C: Jordan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Guam
Pool D: United Arab Emirates, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team had the perfect start in the Group where they were drawn against Bangladesh and overwhelmingly beat them 3-0 only losing 1 game in the process. Matthew Stubbing got the team off to the perfect start beating his opponent Mohammed-Almagir Hossain 6-1, 6-0 in 48 minutes. Then Colin Sinclair beat his opponent Dipu Lal 6-0, 6-0 in 45 minutes. He then teamed in the Doubles with Brett Baudinet, playing his 56th Tie, to beat their opponents (the same 2 singles players) 6-0. 6-0 in 44 minutes.

In their final Round Robin Match (being top seed in Pool A-they received a bye), They beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 to advance to the Group IV Play-Offs along with Oman, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates who also won their Pools. Matthew Stubbings (PNG) lost the opening rubber 6-1, 6-2 to Ammar Alhaqbani with sources on the ground saying he was the stronger of the 2 singles players. Colin Sinclair (NMI) then levelled the Tie 1-1 by comprehensively beating his opponent Saud Alhaqbani 6-1, 6-1. In the deciding doubles Colin Sinclair/Brett Baudinet beat their highly accomplished doubles opponents Ammar Alhaqbani/Saud Alhaqbani 6-3, 7-6 (7) to advance to the Play Offs.

In the Play-Offs, Pacific Oceania played the UAE and Oman played Jordan with the expectation that the 2 winning teams would advance to Asia/Oceania Group III in 2020. Against the UAE they had a decisive win 2-0 against the United Arab Emirates in the final Play-Offs. Matthew Stubbings (PNG) got the Tie off to the perfect start beating Fahad Janahi 6-2, 6-1. Then unbeaten Colin Sinclair (NMI) won his decisive singles 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to give Pacific Oceania and unassailable 2-0 lead with the Doubles not played.
The final standings were:
Promoted to Group III in 2020 – Pacific Oceania and Jordan
3rd Places – Oman and United Arab Emirates
5th Places- Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan
7th Places- Iraq and Cambodia
9th Places- Guam and Bangladesh
11th Places-Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain

2018:

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team of Colin Sinclair (NMI), Heve Kelley (TAH), Brett Baudinet (CI), Matthew Stubbings (PNG) and Rob Krause (FIJ)-captain travelled to the Indoor Courts at the My Dinh Sports Complex in Hanoi, Vietnam in April 2018 to compete in Group III Asia/Oceania Zone Davis Cup by BNP Paribas with the goal of being promoted to Group II.

L to R: B. Baudinet (CI), M. Stubbings (PNG), R. Krause (FIJ-captain), H. Kelley  (TAH), C. Sinclair (NMI)

Pacific Oceania (ranked 93) were been drawn into Pool  A with top seeds Vietnam(67), Malaysia(91) and Cambodia(103) Group A . In Group B, the top seeds for this Pool were Kuwait (73) with Qatar (86), Syria (92), Jordan (99) and Saudi Arabia (114).

In their opening match Pacific Oceania were beaten 2-1 by top seeds, Vietnam, in their opening Tie. Following injury sustained by Colin Sinclair in training both Matthew Stubbings, playing in his first Davis Cup Tie and Heve Kelley both lost their singles 6-3,6-1 and 6-0, 6-2 respectively with Colin Sinclair/Brett Baudinet winning their doubles 1-6,6-3,6-3.

In their 2^nd round pool match, the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team were beaten 2-1 by Malaysia. Both Colin Sinclair and Matthew Stubbings lost their singles matches 6-3, 6-2 and 7-6, 7-5 respectively before Brett Baudinet/Matthew Stubbings won their doubles match 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.

In their final pool match, Pacific Oceania again lost by the same margin of 2-1 to Cambodia with Heve kelly and Matthew Stubbings losing their singles match 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-0 respectively before Brett Baudinet/Heve Kelley won the Doubles 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

This then meant that Pacific Oceania was in the play-offs against Jordan with the winner remaining in Group III for 2019 and the loser relegated to Group IV. The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team beat Jordan 2-1 to remain in Group III for 2019 with Matthew Stubbings (PNG), playing at #1, decisively winning his singles match 7-5, 6-2 to level the Tie 1-all after Heve Kelley had earlier lost his singles 6-3,6-1. Then in the critical doubles match Matthew Stubbings(PNG) combined with Brett Baudinet (CI), who went through the week undefeated in Doubles play, to win the deciding doubles match in 1 hour 55 minutes 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

2017

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team of Colin Sinclair (NMI), Heve Kelley (TAH), Brett Baudinet (CI), Aymeric Mara (VAN) and Rob Krause (FIJ)-captain travelled to Colombo, Sri Lanka in July 2017 with the goal of being promoted from Group III to Group II.

Nine (9) Nations competed in 2 Pools. Pacific Oceania was drawn into Pool A along with Sri Lanka, Syria and Jordan. Pool B featured 5 teams, Lebanon, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkmenistan.

Pacific Oceania won their opening Tie against Syria 2-1. Heve Kelley got Pacific Oceania off to the perfect start beating Yacoub Makzoume 63,16, 62. Then debutante, Colin Sinclair, beat Kareem Al Allaf 64,60 to give Pacific Oceania an unassailable lead 2-0. Then in the dead doubles rubber the Pacific Oceania Doubles team of Brett Baudinet/Aymeric Mara were beaten 63, 16, 63.

In their 2^nd round Pool Match. The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team were been beaten 2-1 by Sri Lanka, a team that was relegated from Group II last year. Heve Kelley was beaten 61,63 by Harshana Godamanna before Colin Sinclair levelled the Tie 1-1 beating the #1 Sri Lankan player, Sharmal Dissanayake 64,64. In the deciding doubles, Sri Lanka prevailed 63,61.

In their final round robin pool match, Pacific Oceania lost to Jordan in a close Tie 2-1. Heve Kelley was beaten in the opening singles 57, 61, 76 before Colin Sinclair levelled the tie at 1 rubber all with a comprehensive win 61, 60. In the deciding doubles Brett Baudinet/Aymeric Mara lost 64, 64. This meant that Pacific Oceania played the positional Play-Offs, with the winner staying in Group III and the loser relegated to Group IV for 2018.

In the Promotion/Relegation Play Offs, Pacific Oceania retained their position in Group III for 2018 after defeating Turkmenistan 2-1 in their final Tie. Heve Kelley lost the Opening Singles 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 before Colin Sinclair leveled the Tie at 1 Rubber All with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. Brett Baudinet/Aymeric mara then won the deciding rubber in the Doubles 6-4, 6-1. Sri Lanka and Lebanon were promoted to Group II and Turkmenistan and UAE relegated to Group IV for 2018.

During this Davis Cup Event, Brett Baudinet (CI) became the only Pacific Oceania player ever to have played in 50 Davis Cup Ties when he recently played his 50th Davis Cup Tie in the Group III Davis Cup in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Brett played his first Davis Cup match against Qatar in 2000 and currently has a Doubles Win/Loss Record of 29/15 and Singles 1/11 for a Total Win/Loss Record of 30/26.

He will be presented with the Davis cup Commitment Award at the OTF AGM in Auckland in March 2018. This award is presented by the ITF to players who have shown long-standing dedication to representing their country in Davis Cup. Each award recipient must have competed in a minimum of 20 home or away Ties or 50 Ties at any level of the competition (including Zone Group Events) over their career. Additionally his name will be added to the Davis Cup Commitment Award Honour Board, which is displayed at the ITF Office in London next to the Davis Cup Trophy.

The award was conceived as part of the ITF’s 2013 Centenary celebrations and was launched at the 100th Davis Cup final in 2012. A total of 349 players have met the criteria, with all recipients being recognized on the Honours Board at the ITF Headquarters and in a dedicated section on the official Davis Cup website.

2016:

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team of William O’Connell (Fiji), Heve Kelley (TAH), Brett Baudinet (CI), Daniel Llarenas (GUM) and Gilles De Gouy (TAH)-captain again travelled to Tehran for the second time in the last 3 years with the goal of trying to be promoted from Group III to Group II in 2017 on the clay courts at the Esteghlal International Tennis Academy.

There were 9 teams competing with their respective rankings in brackets: Iran (87), Syria (90); Lebanon (93); Turkmenistan (95); Hong Kong China (96); Cambodia (97); Pacific Oceania (99); Qatar (100) and Singapore (103). Following the draw ceremony, Pacific Oceania (99) were drawn in the more difficult Pool A with Iran (87), Turkmenistan (95) and Hong Kong China (96).

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team played their opening round robin match against the top seeds, Iran, at the start of their quest to be promoted to Group II, Asia/Oceania Zone in 2017. Iran ended up beating Pacific Oceania comprehensively 3 rubbers to 0. In the opening rubber of the Tie, the #2 player from Iran Anoosha Shahgholi defeated the # 2 Pacific Oceania player, Heve Kelley 6-1, 6-4. Then the #1 player from Iran Shahin Khaledan defeated the #1 player from Pacific Oceania, William O’Connell, 6-1, 6-1. In the doubles the team from Iran of Mohammad Karegaran/Amirvala Madanchi prevailed against the Pacific Oceania Team of Brett Baudinet/Daniel Llarenas 6-3, 6-4.

Following a rest day on day 2, the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team defeated 4th seeds Turkmenistan on Day 3 of Round Robin play by 2 rubbers to 1.Heve Kelly got Pacific Oceania off to the perfect start defeating the #2 player from Turkmenistan, Yuriy Rokuskiy 6-3,6-2. In the #1 singles, the #1 from Turkmenistan Isa Mammetgulyyev (ranked #134) beat William O’Connell 6-3, 6-2 to level the Tie 1-1. The Pacific Oceania doubles team of Brett Baudinet/Daniel Llarenas then prevailed in a very tight doubles match lasting almost 2 hours against the top 2 Turkmenistan Singles players, who also played doubles, Isa Mammetgulyyev/Yuriy Roguskiy 6-4, 7-6(9) to win the tie for Pacific Oceania 2-1.

In the deciding Tie of the Round Robin to advance to the promotion play-offs, Hong Kong China were far too strong for Pacific Oceania winning 3 rubbers to 0. In the # 2 singles, Heve Kelley was beaten by Anthony Tang (HKG) 6-4, 6-2 and William O’Connell was beaten by Karan Rastogi 6-3, 6-1. Then in the doubles Brett Baudinet/Daniel Llarenas lost to Chun Hun Wong/Jack Wong (HKG) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3). Then in their final Tie to decide which team will stay in Group III for 2017, Pacific Oceania were far too strong, beating Singapore 3-0. During this Tie there was jubilation in the Pacific Oceania Team when William O’Connell won his first ever Davis Cup Singles match against the #1 from Singapore, Roy Hobbs, 6-3,6-2 to take the Tie to an unbeatable 2-0 and guarantee Pacific Oceania a place in Group III in 2017. Earlier in the day Heve Kelley had got Pacific Oceania off to the perfect start beating the #2 player from Singapore, Shaheed Alam, 6-1, 6-4. Then the Doubles team of Brett Baudinet/Daniel Llarenas beat the Singapore Team of Roy Hobbs/Hao Yuan Ng, in the dead rubber 6-4, 6-3.

Iran and Hong Kong were promoted to Group II in 2017 and Singapore and Cambodia relegated to Group IV in 2017. During this Tie the Pacific Oceania Doubles pairing of Brett Baudinet (CI) and Daniel Llarenas (GUM) became the best doubles team in Pacific Oceania history with a win/loss record of 11-2

Brett Baudinet now also holds the following Davis Cup records for Pacific Oceania:

• Most Total Wins                             29-23
• Most Doubles Wins                       28-12
• Most Ties Played                            46
• Most Years Played                         13

2015:

In 2015 The Pacific Oceania Team travelled to Bahrain and were promoted from Group IV to Group III. The following is a summary of the Tie by captain Gilles de Gouy

“The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Programme started in June 2014 when outgoing Captain Cyrille Mainguy won the team another opportunity to try to be promoted back into Group lll. With a very clear objective in mind I took the opportunity offered to have the team train together at the Australian Open in January 2015. Training and playing several rounds of Asia/Pacific Tennis League Matches, the team each left Australia with clear personal objectives and training programmes.
Arriving at the Kingdom of Bahrain, an Islamic Island housing just one million citizens in its tiny 760 square metre circumference and Host Nation for the 2015 Davis Cup Group IV Challenge, I observed that the remains of a dust storm had left Bahrain shrouded in fine clay like sand particles. The floating sand in the air, not only had the effect of cutting the 38° heat down, but it also changed the density of the air so that it felt like tennis is being played at altitude. This was an unexpected condition when The sea surrounds the area and this factor needed to be taken into account for match play, along with the physical condition of the team due to their very late arrival into Bahrain.

The team was:

Brett Baudinet (CI); Cyril Jacobe (VAN); Daniel Llarenas (GUM); Heve Kelley (PYF) and captain Gilles de Gouy

Jetlagged after 25 hours travelling and arriving just one day prior to play, the Pacific Oceania team was the last to arrive in Bahrain. They also had the most distance to travel and were challenged both geographically and climatically both in terms of weather and conditions of play, and the lack of ability to train together prior to the event. Fortunately half of the team the team, Heve Kelley and Brett Baudinet, were able to meet together in NZ under my guidance and hospitality. They trained together for the week immediately prior to the Davis Cup at the naval base courts in Devonport, Auckland. Upon attending the Captains’ Meeting Captain I was very pleased to see the team allocated a favourable draw with the schedule of play allowing the team to ease their jetlagged bodies into match play by playing lesser ranked teams at the start of the week and more challenging opponents further into the draw.

Starting on Monday 27th April, the team faced Iraq in their opening Tie.  First up was Vanuatu’s Cyril Jacobe, a veteran DC player who made a great start in his singles against Akram Al-Saady but then was plagued by self doubts and subsequently held back his required aggressiveness losing 5-7, 2-6. The aftermath of Cyclone Pam which ripped through his homeland two months earlier had left Cyril without courts to play on or players to train with and rebuilding his confidence was going to be a major factor in getting Cyril to more successful match play for the rest of the Tie.

With the pressure of winning his first DC match ever, debutante Heve Kelley from Tahiti stepped into the court with a fantastic attitude positively oozing confidence and determination, ready to take on Iran’s number one Al Kahari Al Mayahi.  Using his two gun weapons (his serve and his forehand) Heve also played aggressively when returning his opponents serve and steamrolled over his opponent taking the first set 6-2 and carrying on to win the match 6-2, 6-2.

It was a great set up for the seasoned doubles partnership of Brett Baudinet of the Cook Islands and Daniel Llarenas of Guam to follow and they stepped in the court to comfortably lead the first set, drop the second and fought hard to hang onto the third, with the result being the day’s third win to team PO 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Most definitely the Pacific Island Spirit and support contributed to the first day’s wins and made the difference that mattered in all three matches throughout their 6 ½ hours of play today.

Following this great start to the Tie, on Tuesday 28th April team Pacific oceania took on home team Bahrain in what was a decisive day’s play for them against a very well supported team. This was a huge day’s play, a tough day with some great wins despite the heat being back and bringing high humidity along with it.

First up was Cyril Jacobe vs. Bahrain’s Abdulkarim (Abdul) Abdulnabi.  This player demonstrated great consistency from both sides of the baseline with both his forehand and backhand strokes, and it was enough to raise uncertainty in Cyril’s mind regarding his own tennis game, this made it difficult for him to take the advantage in the score.  Eventually Cyril reacted to his self generated doubt and made even more of a change to both his mental approach as well as his tactical and strategic approach, what followed was a total battle between these two players, with very close and long games with long rallies, with jubilation from the Pacific Oceania Team for their teammates tenacity and stamina during this 2 ½ hour match to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Next on court was Heve Kelley, pitched against the home team’s number one Yusuf Qaed. This player was definitely at the level expected of him, and right from the start a pitched battle was held on court. Yusuf, wanting to take Heve out from the beginning, attacked strongly, Heve however was not overwhelmed by this approach or the level of the game and both players held their serves until a nail biting tiebreak in the first set with Heve have his cunning opponent bluff and play extraordinarily risky shots and eventually won the set after 1 hour 20 minutes of play.

Heve continued on with his lightness of both mind and foot. Being physically much fresher than his opponent and not ready to give up he brought a heightened intensity into an already very intense match. Taking the second set with confident efficiency Heve carried on with determination and consistency to fight his way through an exceptional resurgence from his opponent, eventually conquering to take the match 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2 subsequently bringing home the second win and point for Pacific Oceania for the day. This was another great victory which was further capitalized on when our doubles team won the 3^rd rubber.

With no pressure on them to win but determined to do so and at the same time to improve their game, our doubles combo were both given specific challenges to focus on during their match against the two best players from Bahrain, Yusuf Qaed and Hasan Abdulnabi.  Over the course of the game both these players more than met their challenges and a really good quality doubles game followed also evidenced by great teamwork. The first set’s apparent easy score was actually very well earned with a great quality doubles game by this dynamic Pacific Oceania Duo.  The second set with a mix of good tennis, good luck and great tenacity had the opponents taking several key games and forcing a tiebreak. Daniel, with his good hands and consistent serving, and Brett with his big serve and some excellent play including a brilliant half short cross backhand drop shot, came away with the game in their pocket at 6-1, 6-2.

Well done guys! , great work guys!  The whole team came out on the court to enjoy this latest team victory and the immensely successful conclusion to a long day of tight tennis, 7 ½ hours of pure battle with the Pacific-Oceania team taking home three points and getting ourselves one step closer to the goal of being in the final on Saturday and our ultimate goal of being promoted to the Davis Cup Group III.

Day three and a rest day; it’s 41 degrees and getting hotter by the minute, what a great time to be on court training! With a well appreciated sleep in and an easy start to the day our Pacific-Oceania team were well ready to have a training session with me to work on their individual areas of improvement as previously identified. Several training stations were set up, associating vertical squats for developing more explosive vertical propulsion for serving, elastic bands for training the service motion and to strengthen the shoulder for serving; and skipping ropes for training lightness of foot, followed by the service station and the receiving station. It was a great training session with much achieved. The teams’ enthusiasm to improve and play even better day by day provided a great foundation for the solid progress made today. The team are certainly focused on what they have come here to achieve.

Match play the following day Thursday 30th April provided another great day of tennis for the Pacific Oceania Team with tough singles followed then by a steamrolling doubles against Jordan. Cyril came on the court with the right attitude from the start and playing aggressively against Mousa Alkotop, a very promising junior from Jordan who didn’t make any mistakes. Cyril was playing but not getting through, so a strategy session with the coach later and the decision was made to take every opportunity during the rally, the rubber underwent a major transformation at this point and this match was a successful accumulation of the long labour of mental work that Cyril has undertaken in this Tie. Cyril is putting himself back in the drivers’ seat and playing his game on the court. Result 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Next up, Men’s Singles 1, Heve Kelly steps in the court against Seif Adas in a great mental condition, and champing for a win. What a match! Two baseline players hitting consistently the ball with a lot of power, and averaging 6-8 rallies per point. It was like a game of table of table tennis with its speed and power. Fantastic viewing and excellent tennis.

Both players held their serves until the first set’s tiebreak, each game consistently containing a series of killer shots, as well as great defence and counterattack coming from both. However during the first set tiebreak Heve unfortunately didn’t notice that the conditions had changed, and with the wind at his back he made three mistakes with the balls being just a few centimetres long. This was enough of an advantage for his opponent to jump on and utilise, and Heve lost the first set tiebreak 7-4. Subsequently an amazing second set ensued where, after such a tight first set, the second set was like watching a different game, and the set score of 6-0 tells it all.

This set up the make or break 3rd set where his opponent reacted vigorously to this trouncing and with two crucial points at 3-1, non converted by Heve in this fifth game of the third set, his opponent acted like he had been resurrected. Heve had to battle to hold his serve game, followed by another extra long game, won by Seif, which depleted the last of Heve’s energies and an eventual loss of the game with the score of 6-7(4), 6-0, 4-6. It was little consolation that spectators all agreed that this game had been the best singles match of the week so far in this Davis Cup event.

Then we progressed on to deciding doubles pairing of Brett and Daniel against Jordan’s Mousa Alkotop and Tareq Talal Shkakwa who maintained some belief about their possibility to win the rubber for two games at best, and from that point on however, it was game over. Our doubles pairing simply hammered their opponents into total submission. Brett and Daniel won the first set 6-1 in just a few minutes time and took the second set 6-2 easily, there was no moment that we could even consider it remotely possible for the Jordanian doubles pair to have the opportunity of successfully taking over the game. With no disrespect to these players, they never stood a chance.

So, we are in the final for certain and a day off tomorrow for rest and regenerating energies. A late afternoon training session was focused on individual areas of improvement, technical shots and, most importantly, was designed to work on the areas we need to target in the finals matches.

I have to start with the result… we won ! Winning both the Tie and Promotion to Group llI ! Goal accomplished ecstatic team and Captain, well done PO!

Cyril, won this match and on the basis of first of all having won the mental fight with himself earlier in the week. Result: match delivered with the score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Heve’s match was a good experience against a better player. Losing 0-6, 4-6 should encourage him to work even harder to elevate his level. What a full week for him and a great first Davis Cup Event. Brett and Daniel, one more time delivering a solid doubles performance to win 7-6(6), 7-5. This match shows a tight score we never felt in danger; these two players are a very reliable doubles pairing for this competition. Their undefeated wins tally of 9 wins playing doubles together in a row shows it all. A 100% success record in their last 2 years of Davis Cup Tie’s.

To the team – thank you for trusting me and being willing to work with me for this most crucial Tie. I am proud to have been a part of your and our success. I am really looking forward to next year’s challenge.   The fact we can’t train often together throughout the year is turned in to strength in spirit as we truly support one another on the court. Long live the Pacific Spirit.

To the supporters, your engagement with us both when we are near and when we are far is energizing and appreciated. You are a part of this win.

To Oceania Tennis Federation, thank you for giving us this opportunity to represent Pacific-Oceania, and to fight to take our place amongst the next level of World Tennis. We’re very glad to be here and eagerly anticipate our opportunity to represent Pacific Oceania gloriously again next year. Please maximize our chances to do so by giving us enough time to arrive, recover and train for next year’s Davis Cup event, it’s going to be even more important for us to be in the best conditions then. The pre DC training that two of the team were able to participate in the year for the week before the DC was really helpful, if this can be replicated, and for all the team, it will stand us in good stead. Bring on 2016, let’s go PO let’s go!!”

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2014:

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team were pipped at the final hurdle in their goal to be promoted from Group IV to Group III in their Davis Cup Tie on the red clay at the Enghelab Sports Complex in Teheran, Iran in June 2014. This was to be the last Tie for captain, Cyrille Mainguy. The OTF records its deepest thanks for the outstanding service that has given as captain of the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team over the last 6 years. Regrettably his swansong was not a winning one with the team beaten by a better team on the day, Qatar by 2-1 with the only rubber won being the doubles won by Gilles de Gouy and Daniel Llarenas winning 6-3.7-5 to continue their unbeaten form throughout the event.

Pacific Oceania, which draws its players from the 17 Oceania associate member nations of ITF, were drawn as the top seed in Pool A with a team comprising Cyrille Mainguy (VAN-captain); Juan Langton (SAM); Gilles de Gouy (PYF); Aymeric Mara (VAN) and Daniel Llarenas (GUM) with the top team in each of the 2 pools promoted to Group III in 2015. Also in Pool A were the teams from Jordan, Bangladesh, Iraq and Kyrgyzstan. In Pool B were Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Mongolia.

The team was: Gilles de Gouy, Juan Langton, Aymeric Mara, Daniel Llarenasn and Cyrille Mainguy (captain)

The Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team played the following 4 Matches in the initial round robin, winning all 4 matches and as a result went forward to the play-offs for promotion to Group III.

Results-Day 1 

Pacific Oceania beat Kyrgyzstan 3-0

Aymeric Mara beat Adilbek Mamatov 62,61
Juan Langton beat Maksim Serko 61,64
Gilles de Gouy/Daniel Llarenas beat Abai Kanybek Uulu/Maksim Serko 61,61

Results-Day 2

Pacific Oceania beat Bangladesh 2-1

Henry Mondol beat Aymeric Mara beat 64,46,62
Juan Langton beat Sree Roy 36,76(5),63
Gilles de Gouy/Daniel Llarenas beat Ranjan Ram/Sree Roy 76(5),60

Results-Day 3

Pacific Oceania beat Jordan 3-0

Aymeric Mara beat Musa Alkotop 46,64,63Adilbek Mamatov 62,61
Juan Langton beat Hamzeh Al-Aswad 62,76(5)Maksim Serko 61,64
Gilles de Gouy/Daniel Llarenas beat Hamzeh Al-Aswad/Tareq Talal Shkakwa 46,76(8)60

Results-Day 4

Pacific Oceania beat Iraq 2-1

Aymeric Mara beat Barakat Zainy 63,36,62
Ali Al-Mayahi beat Juan Langton 62,61
Gilles de Gouy/Daniel Llarenas beat Ali Al-Mayahi/Akram Al-Saady 63,76(8).

Pacific Oceania advanced to the Play Offs unbeaten.

 Play Off

Qatar beat Pacific Oceania 2-1

Ali Mutawa beat Aymeric Mara beat 63,63
Al Harrasi beat Juan Langton 61,62
Gilles de Gouy/Daniel Llarenas beat Ali Al-Saygh/Mousa Zayed 63,75

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2013:

The ITF has just announced that the Asia/Oceania Davis Cup Group III Tie involving the Pacific Oceania Team, that was cancelled from Myanmar in early May will now be played in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This Round Robin Tie involving Cambodia, Hong Kong China, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, UAE, Vietnam and Pacific Oceania will be played in the week commencing 9 September at the Aviation Tennis Club which is host to the ATP 500 Tournament with prize money of US$2M in late February every year.

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Davis Cup 2013

Pacific Oceania will this year compete in Davis Cup in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group III in Yangon, Myanmar from 29 April-5 May.

The team to be captained by Cyrille Mainguy (VAN) is:

• Cyril Jacobe (VAN)
• Colin Sinclair (CNMI)
• Gilles De Gouy (TAH)
• Daniel Llarenas (GUM)

The event is a round Robin with 8 teams from Cambodia, Hong Kong, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, UAE, Vietnam and Pacific Oceania competing.

The teams will be drawn into 2 pools of 4 teams. These matches will be played from Wednesday 1 May-Friday 3 May. The top 2 teams in each pool will then play in a new “promotion” round robin pool on the Saturday and Sunday (counting any previous results against nations in that pool). The 2 highest placed nations in this pool will be promoted to Group II in 2014.

Similarly the bottom 2 teams in each pool will play in a “relegation” round robin on the Saturday and Sunday (counting any previous results against nations in that pool). The 2 last nations in this pool will be relegated to Group IV in 2014.

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History: The best Pacific Oceania Davis Cup performance came in 2005, when it reached the Asia/Oceania Zone, Group II, 2nd Round.
First year played                1995
Ties Played                        65(32-33)
Most Total Wins                 Lency Tenai (27-21)
Most Singles Wins             Michael Leong (19-12)
Most Doubles Wins            Brett Baudinet (17-10)
Best Doubles Team           Brett Baudinet/Juan Langton (10-6)
Most Ties Played               Brett Baudinet (33)
Most Years Played             Brett Baudinet (10); Juan Langton (10)

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