With an insurmountable 3-0 lead in hand, Hong Kong took one of two remaining reverse singles to complete a 4-1 win over Syria at Victoria Park on Sunday, as Coenie Van Wyk registered his first singles win by beating debutante Romain Radwan handily, 6-1, 6-4.

After holding for the opening game with an ace, Van Wyk immediately broke his opponent's serve to lead 2-0. He wasted no time in consolidating the break for 3-0 before Radwan finally broke the duck to get on the board to trail, 3-1. From there, Van Wyk again went on a three-game run to polish off the set, 6-1, without having faced a single break point on his serve.

In the second, the Syrian opened with a good hold only to see the HK Davis Cupper embark on another three-game roll to establish a 3-1 advantage. With Radwan unable to conjure any break opportunities, Van Wyk was in full cruise control the rest of the way and held his next three service games comfortably to seal the set and the match, 6-1, 6-4.

In Sunday's opening reverse dead rubber singles, a jaded-looking Nick Sayer managed just two games against University of Illinois' Bruno Abdelnour, going down swiftly, 6-2, 6-0.  He was broken to love in the opening game and had just one break point the entire match, which came in the second game of the first set.

That said, Sayer had already done plenty damage by coming up with a come-from-behind five-set win first up on Friday that set things up rather nicely for the team.

Looking through the list of HK players who made their Davis Cup debuts in a live singles rubber reveals that Nick Sayer, in fact, is the first to do so with a five-set win. The only other live singles debut that went the distance was the 1982 encounter between Pang Chi-Yuen and Ody Gabriel, which the HK player ended up losing, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

As confirmed earlier, this weekend's victory guarantees the territory's place in Asia/Oceania Zone Group II next year, while recently promoted Syria will return to Group III in 2012.

Joining Hong Kong in Group II in 2012 will be Pacific Oceania, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Korea or Thailand, and Philippines or Chinese Taipei.

Philippines and Chinese Taipei will duel it out in the Group I Relegation Playoff in September, with the losing nation getting the drop to Group II. The Filipinos had been a perfect 4-0 against the men from Taiwan until their last meeting in 2010 when Yang Tsung Hua picked up all three points in the absence of Lu Yen-Hsun and Jimmy Wang to anchor his team to a 3-2 victory over Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey.

Elsewhere, Korea and Thailand will face-off in the Group II Final, with the losing nation from this tie staying put for 2012. Interestingly, these two nations have only faced each other twice in the Davis Cup, with the Koreans winning the Eastern semifinal in 1986 and the Thais a Group I First Rounder in 2003. This will mark the first time Korea and Thailand going up against one another in Group II play.

Results
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas 2011
Asia/Oceania Zone Group II - Relegation Playoff
Victoria Park, Hong Kong
July 8-10, 2011

HONG KONG defeated SYRIA 4-1

R-1 Nick Sayer (HKG) d. Issam Al Taweel (SYR) 6-4 3-6 5-7 6-1 6-3
R-2 Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) d. Marc Abdelnour (SYR) 6-2 6-4 6-3
R-3 Jonathan Chu/Coenie Van Wyk (HKG) d. Marc Abdelnour/Issam Al Taweel (SYR) 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-1
R-4 Bruno Abdelnour (SYR) d. Nick Sayer (HKG) 6-2 6-0
R-5 Coenie Van Wyk (HKG) d. Romain Radwan (SYR) 6-1 6-4