South Africa may be on the way up in Davis Cup
South Africa has triumphed over Estonia in their Davis Cup tie in Irene this weekend and they are now two wins away from promotion in this premier international team event in men's tennis.
Although the South African Davis Cup team had a bittersweet end to their Davis Cup tie against Estonia at the Irene Country Club in Pretoria on Sunday, their victory in this Europe/Africa Group 2 battle means that they are still on track to end the year as the best team in this division.
In a dead rubber final day’s play, South Africa won and lost a reverse singles giving them an overall 4-1 victory over Estonia in their Euro/Africa Group 2 first round tie.
Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse won the tie for the hosts on Saturday by clinching the doubles rubber in four sets. On Friday both South African singles players Lloyd Harris and Nik Scholtz won their respective rubbers.
In the opening reverse singles on Sunday, Harris beat Estonian junior Mattias Siimar 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour 27 minutes to give his country a 4-0 lead. Siimar replaced injured Estonian number one Jurgen Zopp who on Friday collapsed on court after the third set in his rubber against Scholtz with a lower abdominal injury.
Estonia then salvaged some pride by winning the final rubber. Their number two, Vladimir Ivanov, beat birthday boy, Nik Scholtz 7-6 (3) 6-3 to give the visitors their only point of the weekend.
“It was an unbelievable weekend for tennis in South Africa. We had world class tennis in display and Estonia gave their all and were very competitive. My team played well and I am proud of them. The crowds were fantastic throughout and I am thankful for the tie sponsors Axnosis, KIA Motors and Vodacom for helping us put a great tie together,” said the captain of South Africa, Marcos Ondrusca.
South Africa, seeded eight, will play 2nd seeds Slovenia next at home from 5 to 7 April. Slovenia defeated Monaco in a tough tie over the weekend. The last time South Africa played Slovenia was in 2013 away. They lost that tie 1-4. However, a year earlier South Africa beat Slovenia 4-1 at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in Soweto.
If South Africa can manage to win Slovenia in April, they will in September face the winner of the tie between Norway and Denmark, which will also take place in April this year. If Ondrusca and his team cold win the tie in September, they will move up to the Europe/Africa Group 1 division of this premier international team event in men’s tennis.
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