Cecil Mamiit will spearhead the RP Davis Cup team against Japan.

The Philippine Davis Cup team playing against Japan in the first round of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group I competitions on March 5 to 7 faces a tough hurdle having lost 5-0 to the team when they last met in 2008.

That match was played in Manila and non-playing captain Chris Cuarto said yesterday that beating the Japanese has become even more difficult since the tie will be played in Osaka where their rivals enjoy homecourt edge.

Cuarto said they still don’t know the composition of the Japanese team but it is likely that the same squad which beat them will be there to score a repeat win.

“We haven’t heard any news [about their team composition] yet, but more or less, they will be fielding the same players” Cuarto said in yesterday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue branch.

In 2008, the Japanese team was composed of Go Soeda, Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki.

Patrick John Tierro lost in a five-setter against Soeda, Fil-Am Cecil Mamiit bowed to Suzuki after four sets, and the doubles tandem of Mamiit and Eric Taino also lost in three tiebreaks and four sets to the Soeda-Suzuki pair.

Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) vice president and RP Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva is hoping the result would be different since the Filipinos have improved since they last met.

“Our players have been getting exposures the past year, and they also had a strong showing at the Southeast Asian Games in Laos last December. It’s quite a good indication that the team has improved a lot,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva cited Fil-Am Cecil Mamiit’s 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Soeda in an ATP Challenger last October in the USA and fellow Fil-Am Treat Huey’s 7-5, 7-6 (6) semifinal win over 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medalist Danai Udomchoke of Thailand at the SEAG.

Soeda is currently ranked No. 235 by the ATP while Suzuki and Iwabuchi are at Nos. 262 and 863, respectively.

Mamiit and and Huey, who are most active among the Filipino netters, are at Nos. 525 and 700.

Mamiit is expected to arrive either on February 23 or 24 to join teammates Johnny Arcilla and Francis Casey Alcantara in training, while Huey does not have a definite schedule yet.

The team plans to leave on February 28 to get acclimatize to the cold Osaka weather and adjust to the indoor carpet surface at the Namihaya Dome.