Twins unstoppable as Thailand rout Vietnam

Trailing Thailand 2-0 after Friday’s opening singles, Vietnam changed their doubles combination from Dac Tien Nguyen and Minh Tuan Pham to their top singles players Ly and Thien in an attempt to cause an upset and keep their hopes in the tie alive. But after only two hours and eight minutes, the Vietnamese resistance came to an end as the Thai twins won 6-4 6-4 6-4. With the third point from the best-of-five rubber, Thailand has booked a place in the final, regardless of what happens today in the two remaining matches.

 

“It was predictable that they would send their best line-up for the doubles as they could not afford another defeat,” said Sanchai after his 15th doubles Davis Cup match win alongside his elder brother, Sonchat. “They were exhausted from the singles rubbers so our plan was to make fewer mistakes and return as many balls as possible.

 

“Although Vietnam has a junior doubles Wimbledon champion [Ly], they lack experience which showed at crucial points. The standard of professional tennis is much higher than junior tennis. They just need to play more matches to become a tougher doubles team.”

 

Thai captain Vittaya Samrej’s prediction that the twins would close the deal for his side by Saturday came true. “With such a great start on Friday, I was confident we would win the third straight point as our doubles team are stronger in terms of skills and experience,” said the Thai skipper.

 

Thailand are likely to play host to top seed Taiwan in the final in September, with Taiwan leading its tie against the Philippines 2-0.

 

Team manager Arth Nana, who said he would reward each Thai player Bt30,000 for the victory, expected his team to dominate today’s meaningless rubbers, where Pruchya Isarow will take on Ly and Kittipong Wachiramanowong will face Thien.

 

“I’m pretty sure we will win 5-0. Our players are much stronger and have been very well prepared for the tie,” Arth said. “Now we have to start thinking about the final against Taiwan which will be a very tough.”

This is the first time Thailand has won a Davis Cup tie 3-0 since the victory over Pakistan in the Group II final in September 2014. 

 

Thailand lost 5-0 to China in a Group I play-off last year and were relegated to Group II.