South Africa’s Davis Cup captain, Pietie Norval, will have to pull a rabbit or two out of the hat, and his players will need to produce a massive effort if they want to turn the tide during Sunday’s action in their tie against Bosnia & Herzegovina at the Irene Country Club.

The team’s predicament arose after the visitors built up a 2–0 lead on Saturday during an action-packed day of excellent tennis, winning the first two singles rubbers of this Davis Cup World Group II tie.

South Africa’s two singles players, Philip Henning and Kholo Montsi, fought hard against their opponents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but both were ultimately defeated in straight sets.

South Africa’s number one player, Henning, who kicked off the day’s action against the visitors’ number two, Andrej Nedić, was particularly disappointed with himself afterwards, having squandered several opportunities on the court and disrupted his own momentum due to unforced errors.

Henning simply could not build enough momentum or take control of the situation on the court. After a poor start in the first set – during which he quickly dropped a game – the former Bloemfontein native fought back, winning three consecutive games to take a 3–2 lead.

However, after Henning lost his serve again in the sixth game, Nedić seized the opportunity to ultimately win the first set 6–4.

This pattern was repeated in the second set. Whenever Henning broke his opponent’s serve and appeared to be taking control, he would commit a few unforced errors, allowing Nedić to level the score again. Despite stubborn resistance from Henning in the tenth game, Nedić ultimately clinched the match by winning the second set 6-4 as well.

In the second match, Montsi won the hearts of the spectators with his brave effort against Bosnia & Herzegovina’s top player, Damir Džumhur, who is ranked more than 600 places higher than him on the ATP singles rankings.

As Norval predicted on Friday, the former Curro Hazeldean pupil rattled his highly rated opponent with his unorthodox style of play, and great excitement mounted when Montsi took a 3-1 lead after four games.

Džumhur, however, fought back, and despite strong resistance from Montsi, he managed to win the first set 6-4.

The second set started disastrously for Montsi when his serve was broken in the opening game, but with the home crowd cheering him on fervently, he played fearless tennis at times and repeatedly fought his way back into the match just when it seemed Džumhur was cruising to an easy victory.

The 23-year-old South African still managed to unsettle Džumhur, and with the score at 5-all, it looked as though he was on track to clinch the second set. However, the Eastern European broke Montsi’s serve again after a titanic battle in the eleventh game, before sealing the rubber on his own serve in the twelfth game.

Although it will require a gritty performance from the South Africans to win all three of Sunday’s rubbers (doubles and reverse singles) to clinch the tie, Norval, Henning, and Montsi all assured their supporters after the Saturday’s action that they would give it their all.

Norval, a doubles specialist during his playing days, made it clear that Sunday’s opening clash – the doubles rubber – would be the top priority in their planning.

“If we can win the doubles rubber, anything is possible in the reverse singles rubbers,” he emphasized.

He remarked with a smile that, just as with his team selections for the first day’s action and the choice of “fast” balls for the tie, he might well have another trump card or two to play on the second day.

Although Alec Beckley and Thando Longwe-Smit were named during Friday’s draw as South Africa’s doubles pair for Sunday’s opening rubber, it is almost certain that this combination will be changed.

Sunday’s action begins at 11:00 with the doubles rubber, followed by the two singles rubbers.

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