Korea to play Uzbeks in Davis Cup

By Yoon Chul

Staff reporter

The Korean men's tennis team will play Uzbekistan in their Davis Cup qualification bracket from Friday to Sunday in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province.

To Korea, which is currently placed in Group I of the Asia-Oceania region, this is a critical playoff series so as not to be relegated to Group II. It reached the World Group for the top 16 nations in 2008, and returned to Group I in last year's tournament.

However, the East Asians are now on the brink of relegation after losing to Kazakhstan in March.

If Korea loses to Uzbekistan, it has to depend on a last-ditch effort on the match against the winner between Taiwan and the Philippines. The playoff match for its top-flight survival will be in September,

New head coach Kim Nam-hoon has been training the squad of Im Kyu-tae, Kim Young-jun, Lim Yong-kyu and Kim Hyun-joon.

Kim Young-jun, 30, is in a good shape, ranked the highest among Koreans at 255th, followed by long time international Im at 280th. However Im, who has led the national team, following the retirement of Lee Hyung-taik, has struggled with an elbow injury.

Lim is expected to be the x-factor for Korea, as the 19-year-old player won the Busan Challenge Open in May by beating the 42nd-ranked Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan, a surprising quarterfinalist at last month's Wimbledon tournament, in the final.

Denis Istomin is the most threatening player for Uzbekistan. Istomin, ranked 70th in the world, was eliminated in the round of 32 at Wimbledon in a full-set thriller against the eventual runner-up Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

The first bout will be between Lim and Istomin and Kim Young-jun will play Farrukh Dustov in the second singles match in the best-of-five series.

Struggling veteran Lim will pair with Kim Young-jun to take on the duo of Istomin and Dustov on Saturday. Sunday's games will begin with a battle between the nations top players Kim and Istomin, before the 19-year-old Lim will clash with Dustov in the last match.

Korea beat Uzbekistan, which had the same squad and head coach as the present team, in 2007 as then star Lee Hyung-taik, who rose to 36th place in world rankings in 2007, shut out Istomin in three straight sets. Last year, however, Korea lost to the central Asian country.

The Davis Cup competition is divided into five levels ranging from the World Group to Group IV, and participating countries are promoted and relegated in a knock-out system.

To join the World Group, Korea has to secure a top two finish in Group I and win the World Group playoff against one of eight eliminated countries from the World Group round of 16 matches.

In the Asia-Oceania Group, Australia and Kazahstan have already booked berths to challenge in the World Group for the next season.