On Saturday at the Davis Cup A/O Zone Group II Relegation Playoffs held at the Chinese Recreation Club, the Lebanese pairing of Jicham Zaatini and Karim Alayly came from two sets down to beat Henry So and Adrian Montesinos, 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7), 6-4, to stake the visitors to a precious 2-1 lead. Yu Hiu Tung is to face Karim Alayly first up in the reverse singles on Sunday in a must-win situation.

Michael Lai is then scheduled to take on veteran Jicham Zaatini in the second reverse singles.

In the opening set of the crucial doubles yesterday, Adrian Montesinos and Henry So drew the first opening, as they broke Alayly's serve to go up 4-1. The HK duo then had Zaatini down 15-40 in the visitors' ensuing service game but could not convert. Although the Lebanese managed to break back in the ninth game, Hong Kong went up by a set when Adrian and Henry took the tiebreaker, 7-4.

In the second set, although Adrian lost his serve while serving for the set at 5-2, the HK duo still managed to win the set 6-4 eventually, as they had earlier secured two breaks of serve against Zaatini, who was once ranked as high as No. 278 in the world in doubles.

Then in the second game of the third set, the HK duo ran into a spot of trouble when Adrian was faced with three break points on his serve at 0-40 down. Nevertheless, the home team fought all of them off by winning the next five points in a row to hold serve to level proceedings at 1-1.

After servers dominated the next three games, the Lebanese duo again laid siege on Adrian's next service game. This time, however, the visitors managed to fight off a game point before finally breaking through, courtesy of a double fault. That proved to be the lone break of the set, as Alayly and Zaatini held sway to take the third set, 6-3.

It was all even in the fourth until the eighth game when the HK duo conjured what seemed like a match-clinching break when they won three straight points from 30-15 down to break the Alayly serve to go up 5-3. With Adrian serving for the match, however, the visitors produced a match-saving break instead, as they broke at 15 before Zaatini held to take the score up to 5-5. Both Henry and Alayly then held to move things up a notch into a tiebreak.

Lebanon then drew first blood with the initial mini-break to take a quick-fire 3-0 lead. Points then went with serve until the visitors made it 5-2 when Adrian and Henry regained the lost break by taking the next three points to force a 5-5 impasse. The two sides then exchanged mini-breaks to take proceedings to 7-7 when the Lebanese duo held serve on the next two points to take the breaker, 9-7.

Hong Kong began the final set by breaking Zaatini at 15 but Adrian and Henry were unable to consolidate, as the visitors broke Adrian to love to level at 1-1. Servers again dominated the rest of the way until the tenth game when, Adrian, attempting to hold serve to stay in the match trailing 5-4, got broken after having saved two match points earlier at 15-40 down.

Final score: 6-7(4) 4-6 6-3 7-6(7) 6-4 to Lebanon.

The territory now needs to win both reverse singles on Sunday in order to avoid the drop down to Asia/Oceania Zone Group III for 2009.

Elsewhere, Pacific Oceania has been relegated to Group III after Khalid Al Nabhani and Mohammed Al Nabhani combined to beat Bret Baudinet and Cyril Jacobe, 7-6(3), 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, to give Oman a winning 3-0 lead in the other Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Relegation Playoff being held in Muscat, the capital city of Oman.

Meanwhile, in Almaty, Lu Yen-Hsun (ATP 112) defeated Alexey Kedryuk (ATP 522), 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, to give his Chinese Taipei team a momentary 1-0 lead in the first round of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Playoffs against Kazakhstan. However, Yuri Schukin (ATP 127) then saw off Chen Ti (ATP 284) in five sets, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, before combining with Kedryuk to beat Lu Yen-Hsun and Chen Ti, 6-2, 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-5. Lu will face-off with Schukin in the opening reverse singles.

In Manila, Uzbekistan heads into final day's play with a slender 2-1 lead after Denis Istomin combined with Farrukh Dustov to beat Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino, 7-6(10), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(4). The opening reverse singles will see the much anticipated duel between Istomin and Mamiit. If the Filipino number one can extend the tie to a fifth and deciding rubber, Patrick-John Tiero is slated to face Farrukh Dustov, unless Team Captain Emmanuel Tecson opts for veteran Eric Taino instead.

The losing nation from these two ties will square off in a Relegation Playoff with the loser dropping down to Group II in 2009.

Results
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II 2008 Relegation Playoff
Chinese Recreation Club, Hong Kong
11 - 13 April 2008

LEBANON leads HONG KONG   2 – 1

R-1 Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) d. Jicham Zaatini (LIB) 7-6(2) 7-6(2) 6-7(1) 6-0
R-2 Karim Alayly (LIB) d. Michael Lai (HKG) 6-2 6-2 3-6 3-6 9-7
R-3 Karim Alayly/Jicham Zaatini (LIB) d. Henry So/Adrian Montesinos (HKG) 6-7(4) 4-6 6-3 7-6(7) 6-4
R-4 Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) v Karim Alayly (LIB)
R-5 Michael Lai (HKG) v Jicham Zaatini (LIB)