Renault SA Davis Cup team captain Pietie Norval admitted on Saturday that the results of the first two singles rubbers in his team’s crucial World Group II playoff tie against Montenegro at the Irene Country Club in Centurion may force him to reconsider his combination for Sunday’s doubles rubber.

South Africa’s number one, Philip Henning, defeated his opponent, Montenegro’s number two, Aleksa Krivokapic, quite easily (6-4; 6-2) in the first rubber of the tie on Saturday to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

However, the home team’s number two, Alec Beckley, was unexpectedly defeated (6-2; 3-6; 6-3) by Montenegro’s number one, Petar Jovanovic, in a tough second rubber.

Beckley, ranked more than 600 places higher than Jovanovic in the ATP rankings, struggled with his first serves, especially in the first set, putting a lot of pressure on himself. In addition, the visitors’ 22-year-old top player put his South African opponent under further pressure with his power play from behind the baseline.

This result has undoubtedly placed unexpected pressure on the South African team for the three rubbers that lie ahead on the second day of action on Sunday. This also means that the doubles rubber becomes of crucial importance and the South Africans will have to win this encounter at all costs to relieve the pressure in the reverse singles rubbers.

Renault SA captain Pietie Norval had selected Thando Longwe-Smit and Kris van Wyk earlier this week for the doubles match on Sunday morning. He had hoped, however, that they would go into day two leading 2-0, and with the scores now level, the skipper said they would need to reassess their doubles combination to face Krivokapic and Jovanovic.

There were multiple things that needed to be taken into account from a strategic perspective, and Norval said they would sit down as a squad to decide whether Van Wyk, Henning or Beckley would turn out with Longwe-Smit (their first-choice doubles player) as they looked to regain the advantage ahead of the reverse singles rubbers on Sunday.

“We’re going to get together as a team and relook at what we want to do. We wanted to be 2-0 ahead which would make it easier, but we’re not, so the doubles becomes almost decisive because at 1-1 it’s important to try get ahead again, which basically means you need to possibly play your absolute best doubles team,” Norval remarked after the first day’s action.

A defeat in this World Group II playoff tie against Montenegro would mean that South Africa will be relegated to the regional Group III (Africa) for the first time ever, where they will have to compete against countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Senegal, Nigeria and Algeria.

Play will start at 10am on Sunday, with the doubles fixture, which will be followed by the reverse singles rubbers.

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