Fil-Americans Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey put up a solid stand but fell short to the Japanese duo of Toshihide Matsui and Takao Suzuk at the Namihaya Dome in Osaka Saturday and the Philippines was relegated to a first round playoff with Taiwan in the Asia-Oceania Zone group I Davis Cup competitions.

Mamiit and Huey, doubles gold medalist in the Laos Southeast Asian Games last December, absorbed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 beating to give Japan an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five matches tie.

The Japanese came into the doubles match with a 2-0 lead after after Tatsuma Ito outplayed Huey, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Go Soeda rallied from a first- et loss to beat Mamiit, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, in Friday’s singles matches.

The no-bearing reverse singles will be played on Sunday with Filipino non-playing captain Chris Cuarto expected to field in Johnny Arcilla and Francis Casey Alcantara in lieu of Mamiit and Huey.