Vittaya confident Wishaya Would Bounce Back to Lead Thailand to Davis Cup victory against Kuwait
[TENNIS] Captain Vittaya Samrej believed that Thai ace Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul would salvage his pride by winning the Sunday’s rubber following his upset reversed singles defeat to Mohammad Ghareeb in the Davis Cup Zone Asia/Oceania Qualifying Group II opening round tie in Kuwait City.
Ranked No 773 in the world, Wishaya was stunned by the 36-year-old veteran 6-4 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 which kept the two sides neck-and-neck at 1-1 in the Friday’s opening rubbers. Earlier, Thai No 2 Jirat Navasirisomboon had beaten Abdullah Maqdes 6-2 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 to put Thailand upfront at 1-0. Thailand won the doubles on Saturday after twin Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana easily trounced Abdulhamid Mubarak and Adulrahman Alawadhi in straight sets to put Thailand up front at 2-1 going to the Sunday’s rubbers.
Thailand’s skipper Vittaya, however, was not intimidated by the Kuwaiti fight-back and was highly confident that his side was still in control.
“I was prepared for a 1-1 draw in the first day. I knew the host team has been well prepared for this tie,” said the 52-year-old former Davis Cup player.
“But I have a strong faith in my team and they will prevail in the end. It could end in the fourth rubber by Wishaya as he is a better player compared to Kuwaiti No 1 (Abdullah Maqdes),” said Vittaya. The Thai captain was in fact by the superb play and fitness level of Ghareeb who was once in the top 340 in the world and also beat Wishaya in their previous meet three years ago.
“I thought he would lose his steams in the final set but he was still moving very well. He was serving unbelievably and was hitting the forehand very well. I have to give him credit for that,” Vittaya said. However Vittaya said age would take its toll on Ghareeb if he is to play three successive days.
“It will hard for him to keep his play at high standard on Sunday. Our players are younger which is the advantage.”
Wishaya, 15 years younger than the Kuwati, also hoped to come up with a better form on Sunday.
“To be honest I really have no idea what went wrong with me. I just played below my standard for no reason. It didn’t have anything to do with the pressure,” said Wishaya.
