AT match point, Ruben Gonzales smiled as he didn't have to move a single muscle after his opponent committed a double fault error.
That said it all as the Filipino tennis star totallly outclassed Sharmal Dissanayake, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, to help the Philippines sweep the opening singles against Sri Lanka in their Davis Cup Group Two tie on Friday at the Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig.
After PJ Tierro battled back from two sets down to beat Harshana Godamanna in the opening singles, Gonzales hardly broke a sweat in dismantling Dissanayake and move the Filipino netters on the verge of advancing to the second round.
“I used my experience over him,” said the 29-year-old Gonzales, who’s a decade older than Dissanayake. “I tired him and made him run.”
The Cebuana Lhuillier-sponsored PH Davis Cuppers try to finish off the Sri Lankans on Saturday when Treat Huey and Niño Alcantara face off against the weary pair of Godamanna and Dissanayake in the doubles match.
[See Tierro fightback from two-sets down hands PH first point in tie against Sri Lanka]
Dissanayake, the un-scouted young Sri Lankan star, tried to keep Gonzales in the dark early with an array of shots, winning two straight games to pull within 4-3 in the first set.
But Gonzales soon figured him out and pulled away, winning the next two games with his power serves and superior groundstrokes to grab the opening set en route to the one-sided victory that took less than two hours to finish.
That prompted the Pinoy netter to make a victory lap while waving the Filipino flag.
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