Bitter disappointment for SA Davis Cup team as Israel defeat them in Irene
South Africa's Davis Cup team could not benefit from a favourable position at the start of the reverse singles rubbers on Saturday and in the end they lost 2-3 against Israel in their tie in Centurion.
It was a sombre atmosphere over the Irene Country Club in Pretoria late Saturday afternoon as the KIA South Africa Davis Cup side lost to Israel in the Davis Cup Euro/Africa Group 1.
The visitors came from 1-2 down after the doubles rubber to beat South Africa 3-2 which secures them a spot in Euro/Africa Group 1 in 2019.
South Africa will face either Sweden, Ukraine or Portugal in a relegation playoff in September with the winner remaining in Group 1 and the loser relegated to Group 2.
The tennis could continue undisturbed this weekend, despite political protest marches that took place on Friday afternoon in the streets around the Irene Country Club.
All that the group of anti-Israel activists could achieve was to create traffic-chaos on the roads around the Country Club. In the process they only caused endless frustration for motorists, which included residents of Irene as well as tennis enthusiasts who wanted to support their country during an international sporting event.
The two teams were 1-1 on Saturday morning after Lloyd Harris opened up for South Africa on Friday beating Edan Leshem 7-5; 6-4 followed by Dudi Sela giving Israel the equalising point when he beat Nik Scholtz in a marathon rain delayed three set battle 6-1; 6-7; 7-5.
In the first rubber played on Saturday, South Africa’s doubles team of Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse overcame a strong challenge from Israeli’s Jonathan Erlich and Dudi Sela. The South Africans came from a set down to win 5-7; 6-4; 6-4. Klaasen and Roelofse remain unbeaten in Davis Cup.
With South Africa leading the tie 2-1, only one of the two reverse singles were required to be won to clinch the tie.
But Israel were having nothing of it. In the battle of the number ones, Dudi Sela showed his top 100 ranking class to beat Lloyd Harris 7-6; 6-1.
Harris was noticeable uncomfortable during the rubber, especially in the second set. Although he did not want to make any excuses afterwards, he nevertheless indicated that he had fallen ill from something he ate before the rubber against Sela.
With the tie levelled at 2-2, the pressure was on South Africa’s number two singles player, Nik Scholtz, and Edan Leshem (Israel) to deliver the victory for their respective countries.
Scholtz fought bravely but the higher ranked Leshem prevailed and delivered the win for Israel when he overcame the challenge from the lanky Capetonian, winning 6-3 7-5.
“Things were running very well up to the double rubber. Being 2-1 up is significantly better than being 1-2 down but from experience I knew it was far from over. To lose like this is tough,” said a disappointed Marcos Ondruska, captain of the KIA SA team, after the tie.
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