Former world No. 72 Cecil Mamiit was pushed to the brink of defeat before saving a match point to beat Hong Kong's Martin Sayer, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 9-7, in the opening reverse singles on Sunday. The win gave the Philippines an unassailable 3-1 advantage and puts them in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II semifinals against Pakistan in four month's time.

On the contrary, the men from Hong Kong will have to contend with yet another do-or-die battle for Group II survival – this time against newly promoted Oman in a Group II Relegation Playoff during the weekend of July 10-12.

With mucho big game experience under his belt, Mamiit, as expected, started the opening reverse singles on Sunday the steadier of the two, breaking Sayer once to take the opening set, 6-4. In the second, the HK Davis Cupper was down a break and trailed 3-2 before he rallied to produce two service breaks of his own to nick the set and restored parity.

The final break of that second set came after Sayer had wasted a set point with a forehand that sailed a foot long when Mamiit was serving at 4-5, 30-40. On the ensuing deuce, Mamiit broke a string midway through a long rally and had no choice but to venture up the net to avoid attempting an uncontrollable ground stroke from the back of the court.

However, a no-nonsense backhand crosscourt pass greeted his arrival in the forecourt.

With a second set point in hand, Sayer then hit a blinding, sledgehammer-like forehand crosscourt winner after another protracted baseline exchange that landed just inside Mamiit's right hand corner.

At this point, the local spectators were up on their feet stomping and cheering, and in general, making their presence felt. Chants of "Philippines" were equally met with deafening unisons of "Hong Kong".

A real match was on hand.

After throwing down a pair of aces to hold easily in the beginning of set three, Sayer again broke his opponent's serve with another heavy topspin forehand into Mamiit's right corner.

The HK Davis Cupper then held authoritatively at love to consolidate the break to secure a 3-0 lead.

Games then went with serve until the seventh game when Sayer was uncharacteristically lackadaisical and gave up three unforced errors in succession to lose serve. Still holding a slender 4-3 lead, Sayer regrouped just in the nick of time to break back straight away and then held out confidently to take the third set, 6-3.

In the fourth set, Mamiit managed to jump out to a 5-3 lead but could not put his opponent away, as Sayer recovered the lost break of serve to eventually force a tiebreak. Again showing nerves of steel, Mamiit came up with the goods when it mattered in the breaker, taking it 7-4, to force a fifth and deciding set.

In the fifth, the Filipino broke the HK player's serve in the fifth game and then consolidated easily to take a momentary 4-2 lead. After holding arduously for 4-3, Sayer then produced four forehand winners in the next game to break serve – an inside-out (with a broken string), a crosscourt, a service return, and finally a run-round forehand down the line.

Games then went with serve until the 12th game. With Mamiit trailing 5-6 and serving to stay in the match, Sayer hit his umpteenth inside-out forehand of the match at 15-30 only to see it hit the top of the tape and dropped over ever so gingerly onto Mamiit's side of the court.

Then at 30-all, the HK Davis Cupper seized his chance for another strike with his potent forehand, as he smacked another one that landed inside Mamiit's right hand corner again for a clean winner.

Match point Hong Kong.

Sensing like everyone else in the stadium that another forehand could well finish the job at hand, Sayer was perhaps a tad late in deciding to move towards his left to make way for another run-round to hit his favourite shot. Therefore, he met the ball later than expected. In fact, he did well to bunt the ball back to the other side of the net before it was met with an off-forehand winner from Mamiit.

The Filipino took the next two points to hold for 6-6.

In the ensuing game, Sayer saved a break point when he trailed 30-40 to force deuce only to see Mamiit eventually break for a 7-6 lead. The Filipino then served an ace in his next service game to take the score to 40-15 and two match points for the Philippines.

With his vaunted forehand now clearly on display and in sync, Sayer belted consecutive second serves from Mamiit for winners to force deuce, which he ultimately broke back to 7-7 with yet another heavy topspin forehand that landed just inside his opponent's now worn out right hand side corner.

To his credit, Mamiit, who was already seen sucking hard for air after each long rally from as early as the middle of the second set, utilized his guile and experience to the max, choosing the right shots to play and coming in just at the precise moments, even when under extreme duress and physical exhaustion.

After breaking Sayer's serve at 30 to lead 8-7, Mamiit threw down an ace for 30-30 in the next game. The following point, he took advantage of a short reply from the HK player, hit a good approach, and then produced a stinging backhand volley winner to take the score up to 40-30.

On his third match point, Mamiit, who was once ranked as high as No. 72 on the ATP Tour, delivered an ace out wide to end the 4 hours and 10 minutes contest with a 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 9-7, victory.

Mamiit is the two-time reigning SEAG men's singles gold medal winner. He also won the bronze in men's singles and partnered Eric Taino to the bronze in men's doubles at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. As a rookie at the University of Southern California in 1996, Cecil Mamiit beat Fresno State's Fredrik Bergh 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to become the first freshman since Stanford's John McEnroe to win the NCAA D1 men's singles championship.

In his climb up to No. 72 in the world in singles and No. 102 in doubles, Mamiit has beaten the likes of Michael Chang, Todd Martin, Mark Woodforde, Andrew Ilie, Max Mirnyi, and Lee Hyung-Taik, to name a few.

Teenager Francis Casey Alcantara then rubbed yet more salt into an ever-expanding wound when the 17-year-old made a winning Davis Cup debut, as he came up with the dead rubber singles against Michael Lai, 6-4, 6-4, to complete the final 4-1 score line.

The Philippines' best Davis Cup performance came in 1991 when a team, led by Felix Barrientos and Roland So, defeated Japan and China in successive rounds to reach the World Group Playoffs before bowing out to Sweden.

Results
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II 1st Round
Victoria Park, Hong Kong
March 6-8, 2009

PHILIPPINES defeated HONG KONG   4 – 1

R-1 Martin Sayer (HKG) d. Treat Huey (PHI) 6-4 7-6(0) 6-2
R-2 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) d. Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) 7-6(2) 6-1 6-1
R-3 Treat Huey/Cecil Mamiit (PHI) d. Brian Hung/Martin Sayer (HKG) 7-5 6-3 7-6(4)
R-4 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) d. Martin Sayer (HKG) 6-4 4-6 3-6 7-6(4) 9-7
R-5 Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI) d. Michael Lai (HKG) 6-4 6-4

Sources:
Mamiit to rejoin RP team for SEAG (BusinessMirror, 10 Mar 2009)
Group II round-up (DavisCup.com, 9 Mar 2009)
Mamiit seals Davis Cup victory (Sports Inquirer, 9 Mar 2009)
Philippines beats Hong Kong in Davis Cup (Philippines News Agency, 9 Mar 2009)
Mamiit heroics helps RP win Davis Cup tie vs HK (ABS-CBN News, 8 Mar 2009)
Mamiit, Huey shine in Davis Cup (Manila Times, 8 Mar 2009)
Tennis: Tierro goes to Davis Cup Tuesday (Philippines News Agency, 1 Mar 2009)
The Wilds of Davis Cup: Taino, Mamiit carve a niche (Tennis.com, 11 Apr 2008)
Sampras withdraws; Mamiit advances to first career final (CNNSi.com, 13 Feb 1999)