KEY POINTS:
The Philippines have put New Zealand out of the Davis Cup after taking an unassailable 3-0 lead at the Parnell Tennis Club yesterday.
The visitors made the expected switch in their doubles combination from their No 3 and 4 players to their top team of Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino who between them have well over a dozen Challenger doubles titles. They duly won the doubles clash in four sets to take the tie, but were pushed nearly all the way.
The Kiwi duo of Dan King-Turner and Simon Rea were always going to have a hard task to win the doubles and take the tie into a third day but, the way they started the match, anything looked possible.
The Kiwis immediately broke Mamiit's serve and although having their own serve broken late in the set, they again broke Mamiit's serve and then had Rea hold his own to take the set 7-5.
The second set proved to have the pivotal point in the match as the New Zealanders led 4-2 after again breaking Mamiit's serve in the first game.
But the Filipinos held serve and then broke Rea's serve to equalise at 4-4.
From then on it was on serve and into the tiebreak which the visiting team won seven points to two.
The third set also went to a tiebreak and had the Kiwis ahead four points to two before Mamiit and Taino wrapped it up 7-4.
In the final set, the class of the Filipinos showed through as they wrapped up the set and the match easily for a 5-5 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4) 6-2 victory.
Non-playing Kiwi captain James Greenhalgh always knew it would be an upset to win the doubles match.
"We had our opportunities out there and our guys couldn't take them," he said.
"They [the Filipinos] had the experience and they took their chances we didn't take some of ours. Its back to the drawing board.
"If we are to compete against quality opposition our guys need to be out on the circuit all the time," said a disappointed Greenhalgh.
The tie was effectively a semifinal and means New Zealand remain in Group 2 while the Philippines have a final to play against either Indonesia or Kuwait later in the year.
Meanwhile, in other Davis Cup ties, Mikhail Youzhny proved Russia's hero on the first day of their quarter-final, battling to win a tough match against Frenchman Richard Gasquet which allowed the Russians to end the day at 1-1.
The defending champions' day got off to a shaky start when Paul-Henri Mathieu, ranked 56th in the world, upset world No 4 Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 to put France 1-0 ahead.
Former champions Sweden and Germany were both sitting more comfortably at the end of day one after going 2-0 up against Argentina and Belgium respectively while in the only quarter-final being played outside Europe, the US stretched into a 2-0 lead over Spain.
World No 9 James Blake eased to a comfortable 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over sixth-ranked Tommy Robredo to hand the US the early lead before world No 3 Andy Roddick charged from 5-2 down in the first set to overwhelm Fernando Verdasco 7-6 6-1 6-4.
