China's Davis Cup head coach Xie Zhao revealed his team may well
stun home fans in their showdown against Japan despite the higher
rankings of Japan's players.
The Asia/Oceania Zone Group I first round starts in Beijing
today with victory in the best-of-five tie needed to keep China's
World Group dream alive.
"I know fans are expecting something from us, especially as our
women's players are shining on the WTA Tour," Xie told China
Daily.
"We may be short of champions but the men's team has improved
tremendously so I am looking forward to surprising the fans and
media at the weekend."
China defeated Pakistan in the Group I relegation playoff to
stay in the top tier this season, but Japan threatens to prove too
tough. In their two previous meetings in 1994 and 2006, China were
thrashed 5-0 both times.
The teams' latest clash was at the Doha Asian Games last
December, where Japan beat China 2-1 in the second round of the
team event.
This does not affect Xie's belief that his team can win.
"We're playing on our home court, that's a big advantage for
us," said Xie. "I think we are better prepared as we have been
training on this court for a month."
Leading the Chinese team will be the country's No 1 Yu Xinyuan,
ranked No. 479 on the ATP Tour and Sun Peng, No. 692. National
champions Zeng Shaoxuan and Yu Xinyuan, who reached the semifinals
at the doubles event at the China Open last year, will play the
doubles tie.
Japan's No 1 is Go Soeda, ranked No 188 in the world, who will
be joined in singles by World 193 Yuichi Sugita. Takao Suzuki, with
the national best win-loss record (30-18), will team up with
Satoshi Iwabushi in the doubles.
China, which has 30 wins in 69 Davis Cup appearances, trails 6-1
head-to-head, with the only victory coming back in 1987.
The country has twice now been one match away from the World
Group: it lost to New Zealand in the 1974 Eastern Zone final and to
Israel in the 1990 World Group playoffs, its best Davis Cup
performances so far.
(China Daily February 9, 2007)