Breakthrough for South Africa as Klaasen and Roelofse win doubles match in Irene
South Africa’s Davis Cup team needs only one victory in the reverse singles matches on Saturday afternoon to win their Davis Cup tie against Israel.
South Africa’s Davis Cup team will start the reverse singles matches on Saturday afternoon with an advantage of a 2-1 lead in the tie against Israel, after Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse won the doubles match.
The tie is being hosted at the Irene Country Club in Centurion.
Roelofse was the big star in the doubles tie. Although he was the lowest ranked player on the court, he totally outplayed his team mate Klaasen, who is the world’s 27th best doubles player, and the Israeli opponents.
Klaasen struggles a bit, especially in the first set, which was lost 5-7 by the South Africans. However, he gradually played better and he and Roelofse manage to bite the bullet with early breakthroughs in both the second and third sets to eventually win the match.
According to the new Davis Cup rules, games are played on a best out of three sets principle.
On Friday South Africa’s number one, Lloyd Harris, beat Israel’s Edan Lesham 7-5; 6-4 in the first game, after which Israel levelled affairs when Dudi Sela beat Nic Scholtz 6-1; 6-7; 7-5.
South Africa therefore only needs one victory in the last two singles games (Harris vs Sela and Scholtz vs Lesham) to win the tie.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
