On the evening of the first day of the Davis Cup showdown, the Lebanese and Japanese are level at 1-1. Yoshihito Nishioka began by beating Hadi Habib in 2 sets, before Benjamin Hassan equalized by easily disposing of Yosuke Watanuka. All remains open in this duel.
Lebanon and Japan played out a 1-1 draw on the first day of the Davis Cup, held on the Smash Sporting Club court in Cairo, Egypt. The match is of crucial importance, as the winner qualifies for World Group I, while the loser will be relegated to World Group II.
In the first match, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka (b. 1995, ranked 61 in the world and first in his team) beat Lebanon’s Hadi Habib (b. 1998, ranked 301 in the world and second in the Lebanese team) in two sets (6-3) (6-4). The win gave Japan a 1-0 lead.
In Friday’s second and final match, Lebanon’s Benjamin Hassan (b. 1995, ranked 149th in the world and first in his team) set the pace to beat Japan’s Yosuke Watanuka (b. 1998, ranked 102nd in the world) in two sets (6-2) (7-6). A perfect tie at the end of the first day’s competition.
Saturday’s match schedule:
10:00 AM – Doubles category: Hassan Ibrahim (b. 1995, unranked) and Fady Baidan (b. 2006, ranked 1,589 worldwide) face Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki (b. 2003, ranked 136 worldwide) and Kaito Uesigi (b. 1995, ranked 1,147 worldwide).
This will be followed by a singles match between top seed Benjamin Hassan (Lebanon) and top seed Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan).
The fifth and final match will pit Lebanon’s Hadi Habib (ranked second in his team) against Japan’s Yusuke Watanuki (ranked second in his team).
It should be noted that the match will be played on a best-of-five basis.
