PH Jr netters battle Kiwis

The Cebuana Lhuillier-Philippine Junior Davis Cup team, composed of the country’s brightest tennis prospects, plunges into action Wednesday in the round-robin competitions in Bendigo, Australia.

Davis Cup men’s team practice player Jurence Mendoza, Eric Olivarez Jr., and Kyle Parpan hope to win at least two of the three matches to qualify for the top eight of the Asia/Oceania group.

But they will have to put up against host Australia, New Zealand and Kazakhstan to achieve the goal of making the next round, where the country only needs to win one more match to earn a spot in the World Group in September in Spain.

“We have practiced for two days here and the kids are ready to play,” said national coach Roland Kraut.  “It’s very cold here with 9-degree temperature and windy conditions.”

He added that the Philippines will go against New Zealand first on Wednesday.

The country has yet to make the World Group of the junior version of the Davis Cup.