Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		18 - 24 July 2002 Issue No. 595 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Still there
A 5-0 demolition of Moldova kept Egypt in the Davis Cup. Inas Mazhar covered a sweeping victory

Click to view caption
Plugario and Ghoneim were at times strikingly similar but the Egyptian ultimately pulled away
In a must-win situation and the chance to advance in the Davis Cup, Egypt did not disappoint, blanking Moldova 5-0 to live another day.
On Friday, Egypt's No 2 Amr Ghoneim disposed of Moldova's No 1 Evenghi Plugario 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and 6-0. After a disappointing first set, Ghoneim, supported by hundreds of fans at centre court in Gezira Club, came from behind to win the next three sets in a marathon that took a little over three hours.
Egypt's top ranked player, Karim Maamoun, rose to the occasion as well, beating Gorban Andrei in straight sets the following day 6-0, 6-4, 6- 2.
Egypt then won the doubles on day three to guarantee a place in the Afro-European group. The doubles pair of Mohamed and Karim Maamoun knocked out Cuptov Sergehi and Andronachi Alexandru 6-0, 6-3, 6-1. The three matches to love victory made the results of the remaining two matches academic. But they were played anyway
"According to federation rules, all five matches of the tie have to be played, even if a team wins three consecutive matches," explained referee Massimo of Italy. "This is an obligation. However, the rules give the leading team the option of playing the remaining two matches in a best of three series instead of best of five." Egypt opted for the former. The final day saw two easy victories for Karim Maamoun against Evenghi Plugario 6-2, 6-0 and another 2-0 victory by Ghoneim against Andrei.
The Egypt-Moldova tie was decisive for both teams. Each had lost their first encounter in the group, Egypt going down to Estonia while Moldova lost to Denmark. While Estonia and Denmark qualified Egypt and Moldova were forced to play a play-off game.
"If we had won the previous encounter against Estonia we might have qualified," Mohamed Halawa, president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation, said. "But Estonia was a big surprise to us and we lost. However, remaining in the group is an achievement. It was compensation." Halawa added that he was not only pleased with the result but with the improvement in the Egyptian performance.

Send a letter to the Editor Recommend this page

ARCHIVES
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Subscription
Advertise!

WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time
weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram Organisation