The UAE and Malaysia were tied 1-1 at the end of their Asia/Oceania Zone Group III Davis Cup encounter being played in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
UAE youngster Hamad Abbas Al Janahi started off well, but went down 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 against his opponent from Malaysia, while the UAE’s top player Omar Behroozian rallied from a set down to win his match and put the tie 1-1.
With both teams set to play the doubles, rain intervened and the match had to be shifted for an early start on Thursday.
The UAE’s next opponent in Pool B will be known depending on the result of today’s doubles. Should they win, the UAE will play Oman – who were trailing Lebanon 0-2 after losing both their singles. And if they lose, they will have to face Lebanon.
“We could have had a lot of pressure off ourselves if Hamad had managed to win his match,” playing captain Mahmoud Khalifa told Gulf News from Colombo.
“But we still have our chances against Malaysia. We have to go out there and win the doubles,” he added.
The eight teams will be playing on a round-robin basis after which the top two nations in each pool will advance to a new ‘promotion’ pool to contest for honours to see which two teams earn a promotion to the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II for 2012.
The bottom two nations in each pool will be placed in a new ‘relegation’ pool with the last two nations in this pool getting relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV for next season.
RESULTS
Group A: Sri Lanka 3 Vietnam 0, Kuwait 3 Myanmar 0; Group B: Malaysia 1 UAE 1, Lebanon 2 Oman 0.
