INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? With Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey combining to deliver the clincher, the Philippines barged into Group 1 of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania tie Saturday at the Philippine Columbian Association shellcourts.

Mamiit and Huey wore down GD Jones and Mikal Statham, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-5, to give the host country an insurmountable 3-0 lead in their Group 2 championship tie and another crack at the elite division where it dropped all three ties in 2008.

Mamiit and Huey paved the way for the resounding win after beating Jose Rubens Statham and Daniel King-Turner last Friday in the opening singles.

The two Fil-Ams had powered the Philippines past Hong Kong, 4-1, and Pakistan, 3-2. But they will face the crack netters from Korea, Chinese-Taipei and Japan in the formidable Group 1 next year.

The visitors, who plunged into practice immediately after losing the opening singles Friday, appeared to have adjusted well to the heat inside the PCA when they forced the Philippines to a tiebreak in the first set.

But the two aces of the RP-Cebuana Lhuillier Davis Cup team didn?t want to give the Kiwis a chance of getting back into the three-day tie, wrapping up the doubles in two hours and 25 minutes.

?I didn?t want to be on a third day,? said the 33-year-old Mamiit. ?I want to give some local guys a chance to play. It?s an honor to be playing at my age and still be an inspiration to some people.?

Non-playing captain Chris Cuarto said there?s a big possibility Johnny Arcilla and Elbert Anasta (originally listed in the doubles team yesterday) will play the reverse singles against King-turner and Jose Rubens Statham today.

Mamiit also acknowledged the difficult prospects in Group 1, saying: ?We can?t settle for this. We will be needing a lot of support. Right now we are getting help from Jean Henri Lhuillier, the PSC and POC (Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee) but I?d like to help and do my part in getting sponsors.?

After breaking New Zealand in the fourth game for a 2-2 lead, Huey, fresh from an ATP Challenger doubles victory with another partner in Spain, slammed two successive aces to hold and give RP a 3-2 edge.

The players got a reprieve from the steamy hot conditions in the court ? which forced King-Turner to retire last Friday and get treatment in a hospital for dehydration ? when a power failure stalled play for about 25 minutes.

When action resumed, there was no stopping the Filipinos, who broke again in the eighth game en route to clinching the set.

The country made it to Group 1 from Group 3 in 2006 after an eighth-tie winning streak. But the Philippines ended up in Group 2 again after bowing to Japan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2008.