By Ronnie Nathanielsz

FIL-AMERICAN stars Cecil Mamiit and new recruit Treat Huey will lead the Philippines? Davis Cup charge against Hong Kong, China in the opening day?s singles matches of the Asia-Oceania Zone II competition in Hong Kong on Friday.

Team captain Chris Cuarto told www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports from Hong Kong that the Philippines? no. 2 Huey will face the host country?s no. 1 Martin Sayer in the opening match.

On the other hand, the veteran Mamiit, the Philippines? no. 1, who has been the anchor of the RP team in recent years, will take on Hong Kong?s second-ranked Yu Hiu Tung.

Cuarto said that he had paired Mamiit and Huey, who is an excellent doubles player to hopefully clinch the tie by winning the doubles on Saturday

But Cuarto was not overconfident, saying: ?We have a good chance.?

He noted that except for Sayer, all the other Hong Kong players were locally ranked. ?But that didn?t mean we are saying they are not good. Besides, we are playing in Hong Kong. But we will try our best to win the two matches.?

He said Mamiit and Huey are in good shape and ready. But he was concerned about the fact that it?s been raining for the past three days and the players couldn?t get much practice on the hardcourt and had to settle exercising in the gym.

Huey was a former All-American from the University of Virginia and who at one time was ranked as high as no. 6 in singles and no. 1 in doubles in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. In the 2006 Wilson/ITA Mideast Regional Championships, Huey overcame Sayer, who played for Radford in a gripping quarterfinals match, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.

During his college career, Huey had several impressive wins in singles over players like Alex Slovic of Washington, Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State and Andre Begemann of Pepperdine among others.

In 2007, Huey teamed up with Somdev Devvarman to win the men?s doubles title at both the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships as well as the Polo Ralph Lauren Men?s All-American Championships with the duo from Virginia finishing no. 2 in the season-ending rankings in 2007 and 2008.

On the pro circuit, the official Hong Kong Tennis Association site says ?judging from Huey?s results he is clearly a far more accomplished doubles player than in singles? and has so far not progressed beyond the round of 16 in singles in any Futures tournament.?