Tennis: Lebanon win Davis Cup Doubles to cut down series deficit

The Lebanon pair, Hady Habib and Giovani Samaha won the doubles encounter on day two of the Sri Lanka–Lebanon Davis Cup Group II Asia Oceania Zone Relegation tie played at the SLTA clay courts in Greenpath, Colombo on Saturday (18).   The win helped Lebanon reduce the deficit after they lost the two singles matches played on day one to make it 2-1 in the five match decider.   The encounter yesterday was a closely contested affair with both the sides’ sharing honours before the Lebanese pair prevailed by winning the fifth and deciding set for 3-2 victory.   It was a ding-dong battle with Lebanon winning the first set and the Sri Lankan pair of Harshana Godamanne and Dineshkanthan Thangarajah taking the second set.   The third and fourth sets ended in an identical scoring line win of 6-3 for Lebanon and host Sri Lanka.   The two sides came into the Davis Cup tie in a must win situation as the loser will be demoted to the Group III while the winner will remain in the same group of the Asian/Oceania category.   The tie comprises of five matches with four singles matches and one doubles match.   The two singles matches are going to crucial for both the teams but host Sri Lanka is with an advantage as they lead 2-1 and they need to win only one of the two singles while in contrast Lebanon will have to win both.   Before the relegation tie began Sri Lanka lost to Philippines while Lebanon underwent a defeat to Chinese Taipei.   However Sri Lanka looks to have the edge and when the two sides met each other in the relegation tie in 2013 Sri Lanka came out victorious.   In the Reverse Singles schedule to be played on Sunday (19) at 10.00am, Sharmal Dissanayake will take on Hady Habib while and Harshana Godamanne meets Jad Ballout.   Overall results:   Singles: Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) beat Jad Ballout (Lebanon) 2-0 (6/3, 6/2, 6/1). Harshana Godamanne (Sri Lanka) beat Hady Habib (Lebanon) 3-0 (7/5, 6/3, 6/3).   Doubles: Hady Habib/Giovani Samaha (Lebanon) beat Harshana Godamanne/Dineshkanthan Thangarajah (Sri Lanka) 3-2 (6/7, 6/2, 3/6, 6/3, 3/6).