Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) Taiwan will meet Pakistan in the 2006 Davis Cup tennis tournament Asia/Oceania Zone Group first round starting Friday, hoping that this year, the home court advantage will help it avenge its loss to Pakistan last year.
Taiwan lost 4-1 to Pakistan last year in the Asia/Oceania second round, while Pakistan advanced to the world group playoffs and was swept by Chile -- it's the best-ever performance.
Led by Wang Yue-tzuoo, who ranks 87th in the latest ATP world rankings, Taiwan will benefit from the hard-court surface most of its players are familiar with instead of the grass courts they had to face last year in Pakistan.
Two singles matches will be played Friday, with Wang Yue-tzuoo taking on Aqeel Khan and Chen Ti meeting Pakistan's best player Aisam Qureshi, who boosted his profile after defeating Paradorn Srichaphan in a first round upset for Thailand last year and currently ranks 429th in the world.
Wang will team up with Yi Chu-huan in the doubles Saturday and meet Quereshi and Khan. On Sunday there will be two reverse singles matches.
The matchup applies the best-of-five format, as the team who wins three points first advances to the second round, where it will meet either South Korea or India.
The Pakistan team arrived in Taipei Wednesday and expressed satisfaction with the court after practice, although they were worried about the temperature, which had dropped to 11 degrees Celsius in Taipei, said Quereshi.