Thailand hold Davis Cup edge 

While the hosts have the world No 702 and inform Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and the highly experienced Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana in their ranks, the Philippines will have to rely on three unheralded players as their top stars Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales have withdrawn due to injuries.

“We had to make abrupt changes to our line-up because our main players are dealing with injuries. But the current team has been playing for some time in the United States and Asia. So they are well prepared for this week,” said Martin Misa, the Philippine non-playing captain during a press conference at the LTAT National Tennis Development Centre, the venue of the tie. 

“It will be tough to predict the results. Thailand have a good doubles team but we will do our best to win,” said Misa, whose three member squad consists of Patrick-John Tierro, Albert Lim and Jason Patrombon. None is inside the top 1,000.

However, Thai skipper Vittaya Samrej said he would not write off the chances of the visiting side, which has as 6-2 record in head-to-head meetings since 1959.

“They never made it easy for us,” said the former national player. “On occasions we beat them, they were very close ties.”

“No matter who they send, we should be more concerned about our players. My job is to make sure that our guys are physically ready for five-set matches, especially Jirat [Navasirisomboon] as he is still new to Davis Cup,” Vittaya said.

In fact, Jirat, ranked No 978, was part of the team that beat Kuwait 3-1 in the away tie 3-1 February.

The winning team will play Pakistan in the final in September for promotion to Group I in 2018.