SPORTS: Crafty singles wins earn Guam Davis Cup cheese in Turkey

For Guam, the third try was a charm.

After being swept in their first two ties, Team Guam defeated Turkmenistan 2-1 Friday in Davis Cup Group IV Asia/Oceania competition at the Megasaray Tennis Academy in Antalya, Turkey.

With very little experience playing on clay, Guam struggled to secure footing but finally achieved a much-needed win with two powerful wins in singles from Danny Llarenas and Camden Camacho.

Llarenas, in his No. 1 singles match, defeated Yuriy Rogusskiy 6-3, 6-2.

Camacho, at the No. 2 singles position, beat Meylis Orazmuhamedow 6-2, 6-2.

With the 2-0 victory cemented, Guam’s Mason Caldwell and Derek Okuhama lost their doubles match to Hadzhymyrat Charyyev and Atlymyrat Gurbanov 3-6, 6-7(6).

Llarenas said his win was amazing because Turkmenistan “is a very good team and I really felt that the team was able to give me the energy to get in front of each set of the match.”

As the match progressed, Llarenas’ successes boosted his confidence, something that never factored into Guam’s shutout losses to Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan.

“I knew my opponent was a strong player so I was focused on trying to start every point with a good, quality ball then just take it from there,” Llarenas said.

Guam has now played Turkmenistan three times in Davis Cup and Guam team captain Torgun Smith was familiar with their team and respected Rogusskiy but knew his No. 1 could beat him if he started strong.

“Getting a lead on Yuriy is clutch because he plays with less confidence when he’s down, and it picks up our confidence,” Smith said. “The key was getting the service break early. Danny actually got two breaks early, and he was able to follow that momentum through the whole match.”

Clearly, Llarenas was feeling more secure sliding on the red dirt than he did in his previous two matches and points came more easily to the former John F. Kennedy High School and former NCAA Division I tennis player.

Llarenas said that playing on clay has been a challenge, adding that he and the team are getting better.

“I think the team energy and pride has really been the difference maker in these kind of team events,” Llarenas said. “And being from Guam, we have a lot of pride.”

After Llarenas’ success, which put a peg on Guam’s side of the scoreboard for the first time, the pressure was off Camacho – sort of. Llarenas’ win meant that if Camacho lost his match, Guam could still secure the win with doubles.

Leaving nothing to chance and controlling his and the team’s destiny, Camacho shredded his opponent in straight sets.

“Danny’s win definitely loosened the pressure on me because we were in the lead, but it put some pressure because I felt the need to match his win,” Camacho said.

Smith enjoyed the position of being up a match, but, going forward, was cautiously optimistic.

“We win one and, yeah, that takes a little pressure off, but at the same time, you have to win two out of three,” he said.

In Camacho’s first two matches, he failed to win a set, awkwardly trying to slide and construct points on the clay as his opponents breezed past the former Father Duenas Memorial School All-Island champion who plays for the Division III George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.

“I am finally feeling my game style on the clay courts,” Camacho said. “It’s been a rough couple of matches because I haven’t been able to adjust to the courts as well as I thought I would.”

Camacho told The Guam Daily Post that the match was a good test, and he enjoyed the gamesmanship that helped carry him through to victory.

“My opponent was solid from the baseline and similar to my game style, but just a righty,” said the southpaw Camacho, who racked up aces and frustrated his opponent with a combination of uniquely angled sliced or powerful serves.

As Camacho pounded his groundstrokes and forced Orazmuhamedow from side to side, team Guam cheered from the sidelines.

“We knew he wasn’t as strong mentally, so the Guam team tried to keep a college-like atmosphere with the style of cheering to get in his head and help boost my motivation,” Camacho said.

With the win, Guam rose to third place in Pool B and was scheduled to take on Iraq in the relegation playoffs. Iraq, after pool play, was seeded fourth in Pool A.

If Guam beats Iraq, they will remain in Group IV. If they lose, they will be cast down to Group V.

“Tomorrow’s the big match because we play to stay in Group IV or be relegated,” Smith said. “I’m confident that we’ll be able to pull it off.”

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Smith said. 

Standings

Pool A

• Syria, 3-0.

• Singapore, 2-1.

• United Arab Emirates, 1-2.

• Iraq, 0-3.

Pool B

• Kyrgyzstan, 3-0.

• Kuwait, 2-1.

• Guam, 1-2.

• Turkmenistan, 0-3.