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MANILA, Philippines – World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas arrived in the Philippines on Monday, March 2, and showed readiness to play for Greece when it clashes with host Philippines in their Davis Cup World Group II playoffs from March 6 to 7 at the Philippine Columbian Association’s Plaza Dilao courts in Paco, Manila.
Riding the crest of a second place finish to Novak Djokovic in the Dubai Championships a few days back, Tsitsipas, currently sixth in the world rankings, is expected to give it all for the Greek team out to make a big splash this year.
“I will try to represent my country as best as possible,” said the 21-year-old Tsitsipas, the youngest netter in the world’s Top 10 who owns 5 titles to date.
The rest of the Greek squad – Tsitsipas’ younger brother Petros, Michail Pervolarakis, and Markos Kalovelonis – arrived on a separate flight and are equally ready and capable in trying to beat the Filipinos.
Dimitris Chatzinikolaou is their non-playing captain.
It will be almost the same team that lifted Greece from Group III to Group II using the old format.
The Filipinos are eager to get into the mix as they will not only play a foe in Tsitsipas’ caliber but they will also tackle a non-Asian nation for the first time since they battled the Swedes in the World Cup qualifier in 1991.
This happened because the Davis Cup is implementing a new system of play.
Reigning Southeast Asian Games doubles gold medalists Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon will spearhead the country’s campaign along with Ruben Gonzales, AJ Lim, and Eric Olivarez Jr with Chris Cuarto as their non-playing skipper.
Team draw is set on Thursday, March 5, while the first two singles matches are scheduled on Friday, March 6.
The doubles and the last two reverse singles are on Saturday, March 7.
In the new Davis Cup system, a total of 12 home-and-away ties will be played in the World Group II simultaneous with the World Qualifiers and World Group I playoffs.
The top 12 in the World Group II playoffs will then advance to the World Group II ties in September along with losing countries from the World Group I.
The losers in Manila will be demoted to the Regional Group III scheduled in June and July or September. – Rappler.com
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