Australia seize unassailable 3-0

The Chinese Taipei pairing of Tsung-Hua Yang and Chu-Huan Yi made the Australians fight for every point, with minimal break-point opportunities, but the more experienced duo of Carsten Ball and Paul Hanley were victors today in three sets 7-6, 7-6, 6-2.

The biggest storm clouds you’ve ever seen threatened to suspend the tie late in the third set but luckily for Australia, Ball and Hanley were able to step up a gear - especially doubles-specialist Hanley who finished off strongly with an ace that sealed victory.

Yi and Yang startled the Australians in the opening game of the match though by breaking Ball’s serve but then they let a 2-0 lead slip when Australia broke back in the third and leveled at 2-2 in the fourth.
It was the fast serving again from the Chinese pair that troubled the Australian’s who later confessed they spent most of the first two sets getting used to playing together.

“To get away with that first set, then I think we felt a little bit more comfortable together. We handled it okay. Not many balls went by us at the net and I think that that is a good sign,” Hanley said.

When Ball finished the first set tie-breaker off with a booming serve that Yang had no chance of returning, it was a case of redemption for the U.S based Australian who lost his opening service game of the rubber.

“I enjoyed playing with ‘Handles’ for the first time and hopefully do it again more often. I thought we played well together and I thought the Chinese boys also played very well,” Ball said.

Team captain John Fitzgerald praised his young team in an on-court interview in front of a modest crowd of 2000 tennis fans at Margaret Court Arena.

“I think it is great to see the young group coming through. We got a big future we think. We are maybe a few years away from really fielding an extremely strong team – we think there is a great future and we are looking forward to it,” Fitzgerald said.

It looks likely Australia will play Japan in the next round (Japan currently hold a 2-0 lead over the Philippines in their tie being held at Namihaya Dome in Osaka) and could face an embarrassment of riches with so many in-form and quality players to choose from as Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione make their way back from injury.

“They’ve got some good players Japan; I guess we are very wary of them. It’s another hurdle but I like to think we can do well there and force our way into the playoff but none of these are easy gigs really,” Fitzgerald said.
“[Lleyton] informs me that he is probably ahead of schedule in terms of his recovery so let’s hope his body feels good by then,” he said.

Peter Luczak returns to the action tomorrow as he takes on Yang starting at 11am (AEST) in the first of the reversed singles rubbers. Following the completion of that match Bernard Tomic will wrap up proceedings by taking on Yi. Both team captains, however, can make changes to their respective line-ups overnight up until an hour before play is scheduled to start.

Ben Carenco