By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Francis Casey Alcantara, left, and Jeson Patrombon will lead the Philippine Davis Cup against Greece set on March 6 to 7 at the Philippine Columbian Association claycourt in Paco, Manila. (MB File Photo)
Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon will spearhead the Philippine Davis Cup team against a Greek squad boasting of world No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in their World Group II playoff tie.
The best-of-five, two day affair will take place on March 6 and 7 at the Philippine Columbian Association claycourt in Paco, Manila where the Filipinos seek home-court advantage.
According to the Davis Cup website, the PH team will be composed of Alcantara, Patrombon, Eric Olivarez Jr., AJ Lim and Ruben Gonzales.
The Greeks, for their part, will have 2019 Australian Open semifinalist Tsitsipas and his younger brother Petros, Michail Pervolarakis and Markos Kalovelonis.
Team captains for PH and Greece are Chris Cuarto and Dimitris Chatzinikolaou.
Cuarto admitted facing the Greeks powered by a world-class player like Tsitsipas will be daunting, but remained positive that they can still pull of the tie victory.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, will banner Greece in the Davis Cup World Group II playoffs. (AFP)
“We’ll make the most out of our matches,” said Cuarto. “Looking at their lineup, it’s going to be very hard and tough.”
Alcantara and Patrombon established themselves as the best Southeast Asian men’s doubles players after winning the gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games against teammates Gonzales and Treat Huey last December.
Alcantara, Patrombon and Gonzales are veterans in the Davis Cup scene. Gonzales, the most senior in the group, has played 15 ties since 2010 with a doubles ranking of 227.
Patrombon has seen 11 ties since 2011, while Alcantara has been with the squad since 2009 with an ATP doubles ranking of 535.
Lim, meanwhile, has played in four ties since 2017 while Olivarez will be debuting with the crew.
As for Greece, all four players have pro rankings with Tsitsipas also at No. 85 in the ATP doubles. Pervolarakis and Kalovelonis are ranked No. 423 and 717, while Petros is at No. 1163.
Under the new format, 12 home-and-away ties in World Group II playoffs will be played at the same time in the World Qualifiers and World Group I playoffs.
The 12 winning nations from the World Group II playoffs will compete in the World Group II ties in September along with the losing nations from World Group I.
Losing nations in World Group II, meanwhile, will compete in the Regional Group III in June/July or September.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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