The Filipino-American star on Saturday asked everyone to keep the faith moments after failing, together with Eric Taino, to get the job done for the Philippines in the critical doubles match of its Davis Cup Asia-Oceania relegation tie with Uzbekistan.

Mamiit and Taino bungled a commanding lead in the first-set tiebreak and a seemingly formidable 4-1 edge in the fourth to go down, 6-7 (10-12), 7-5, 1-6, 6-7 (5-7), to Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov, who gave the visitors a 2-1 advantage going into the reverse singles that start at 10 a.m. today.

"It’s not over yet," Mamiit added. "We’re positive in everything we do. We always bring a lot of heart (into our matches). We just didn’t get the lucky breaks out there today."

The Philippines, with its back pressed hard against the wall, needs a sweep of the remaining two singles matches to avoid falling back into Group 2.

Non-playing skipper Manny Tecson also refused to throw in the towel with Uzbekistan now heavily favored to clinch the tie either through Istomin and Dustov in the final matches at the Philippine Columbian Association.

"The tie isn’t over yet," said Tecson, wearing a smile and exuding an air of confidence. "We have to be confident in everything we do."

Tecson refused to say who he will start. He was set to meet his team last night to discuss strategies. Mamiit, however, said a lot about how the country needs Taino at this point.

"He’s the backbone of our team," Mamiit said. "He has the same amount of abilities as I do and we wouldn’t be at this stage if not for him. Eric, I think, is the key right now."

Mamiit and Taino had a 6-4 lead in the first set tiebreak but couldn’t wrap it up with the towering Uzbeks bailing themselves out of trouble with their serve.

The Filipino pair reduced the match to a best-of-three after winning the second set when Dustov netted a volley and Mamiit held serve in the 12th game.

But it was all Uzbekistan in the third before the Filipino tandem, which has resurrected Philippine tennis from the doldrums with a number of Southeast Asian Games gold medals and a bronze medal in the Asian Games, bounced back by winning four of the first five games of the fourth frame.

It looked like it would be a breeze for the Filipinos from there, until the Uzbeks regained their bearing to knot it all up at 4 and set a toe-to-toe match where they prevailed.

Uzbekistan raced to a 5-1 lead in the fourth-set tiebreak, before Mamiit-Taino clawed back to within 4-5.

But Mamiit dumped a forehand volley to the net for 4-6 before Istomin scored on a passing shot to wrap the match up in three hours and 45 minutes.

Whether the Tecson gambit of playing young Patrick John Tierro against Istomin in the opening singles yields a positive result will known today.

Tierro got hammered Friday morning, 4-6, 3-6, 2-6, but Tecson said the Philippines gained somehow from the loss by being able to study the Uzbekistan ace.