Twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana shored up Thai hopes for a victory in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 2 first-round clash with Kuwait after comfortably winning the doubles encounter against Abdulrahman Alwadhi and Abdulhamid Mubarak yesterday.
Hosts Kuwait had fought back to tie Thailand 1-1 on Friday, when their second-ranked player Mohammad Ghareeb edged Thailand No.1 Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7/3), 6-0 in a marathon battle.
Sonchat and Sanchai started off in an impressive manner as their Kuwaiti opponents were repeatedly bogged down by flurries of unforced errors.
The Thai twins won the first set 6-2 before blanking Alwadhi and Mubarak 6-0 in the next. Sonchat and Sanchai relaxed a bit but had little trouble in wrapping up the match, winning the third set 6-3.
In today's reverse singles, Wishaya takes on Abdullah Maqdes and Thailand No.2 Jirat Navasirisomboon meets second-ranked Kuwaiti player Ghareeb.
Thailand captain Vitthaya Sumrej said: "Today we played well because they [Kuwait] changed their doubles pair. I am hopeful that Wishaya will get a point for the Thai team in the reverse singles match."
Thailand hold a 4-0 advantage over Kuwait in their head-to-head record and are determined to keep their unblemished record intact.