The UAE Davis Cup team’s undefeated week in Doha finished on a high note as they overcame Qatar in their playoff on Saturday, to secure their promotion to the Asia/Oceania Group III.
The Emirati squad spearheaded by Omar Behroozian Awadhy and Hamad Al Janahi downed their gulf rivals 2-1 in the promotion playoff after topping their pool in the round robin stages.
Awadhy put the UAE in front when he crushed Qatar’s Mousa Zayed 6-0, 6-1 before Al Janahi battled past Jabor Mutawa 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to seal the tie and the Group III spot.
The Qataris scored a consolation point though when Abdulrahman Al Harib and Zayed defeated UAE duo Saoud Al Ali and Abdulrahman Al Janahi in the doubles dead rubber 6-2, 6-2.
“I’m really happy,” Awadhy told Sport360° on Sunday night after the win. “I remember when we talked in the Dubai Open I told you this was our target, it was very important for us to qualify to Group III.
“We really feel we belong in Group III. This is our level and it was very important for us to prove that. We won five matches in a row and went unbeaten all week. Hopefully we can move forward now. We don’t want to keep going up and down.”
The 30-year-old said he was happy to have Al Janahi back and that together they can get the UAE Davis Cup team back on track. Awadhy added: “When Hamad was younger he had a big potential. But then he went to the States to study and he didn’t play for 8-9 months.
“He’s finding his way back. He’s still not feeling as good as he used to. He lost one match, he won the rest. He had a good win today, final set. Me and him are basically the one and two in the UAE and I feel we’re moving forward already.”
Al Janahi however believes the squad is in desperate need for more players to support him and Awadhy. He said: “I always say I’d love to have more players on our Davis Cup team. There is a big difference right now between our top two, and No3 and No4. We really need to have a backup in case me or Omar are injured or unavailable.”
Cambodia sealed the other promotion spot by defeating Turkmenistan 3-0, to cap off an unbelievable week where they went from playing their first ever Davis Cup tie, to going undefeated in Doha and qualifying for Group III. Team captain, Tep Rithivit, said of the victory: “We’ve worked so hard. It has really paid off.”
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