3 days ago
Malaysia serve up dominant performance to reach Davis Cup play-offs
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia booked their spot in the play-off round of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group IV campaign with a 3-0 win over Iraq in their penultimate Pool A clash on Thursday.
Koay Hao Sheng got Malaysia off to a strong start at the National Tennis Centre with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-5 win over Abdullah Ali Hatem Ghrairi.
Darrshan Suresh Kumar then made quick work of Akam Bakr with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory to give Malaysia an unassailable 2-0 lead, before Daniel Prickett-Naufal Siddiq Kamaruzzaman sealed the comprehensive win with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Mohammed Al Shammari-Abdullah Ali Hatem in the doubles.
The team will face Kyrgyzstan on Friday to determine the Pool A champions.
Darrshan was pleased with his form and is aiming to secure victory against Kyrgyzstan for a favourable play-off draw.
"It was quite solid. I am really happy with my performance, the way I was moving, especially my serves. I was struggling a bit yesterday, but today was much better," said the 18-year-old.
"We played Kyrgyzstan in a training session last week. They know our game style and we know theirs. It's pretty even... it will come down to who plays better tennis tomorrow."
"We need to secure the top spot. As you know, in the other group, anything can happen. Everyone here is solid. Everyone wants to win and earn promotion to Group III."
"Tomorrow (Friday) we have to win and finish top of the group, so we can play the number two team from the other group. We just have to do our part and hope for the best."
"We all want to win, especially after what happened last year when we were relegated to Group IV. It wasn't something we were proud of. This year, we're trying to fix that and get back to where we belong."
In the other Pool A, Kyrgyzstan defeated Nepal 3-0.
