‘Hard to take’ Davis Cup defeat
President Azar: The loss stings, no question about it, but it’s only for a short time.
JAMAICA SUFFERED a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat at the hands of regional rivals Barbados in their World Group II ATP Davis Cup tie at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston yesterday.
The defeat sent Jamaica down to Group III. The teams went into yesterday’s second and final day locked at 1-1 after the opening singles and the visitors went in front when the Barbadian doubles pair, Haydn Lewis and Darien King, overcame Jamaica’s Blaise Bicknell and Rowland Phillips 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Jamaica roared back when local number one Bicknell made light work of King 6-1, 6-0, in the first of two reverse singles matches to level the tie at 2-2. With all to play for in the final reverse singles match, Kaipo Marshall and Phillips had a bruising battle before the Barbados number two emerged the victor at 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to earn a victory for the visitors.
Tennis Jamaica President John Azar said the defeat was hard to take but they are looking to bounce back right away.
“We are disappointed but nothing to be ashamed of. Both teams gave their best. The athletes put their all on the line, but it’s tough. I feel it for them (players).
“All credit to the Barbadian team. They executed well, but it could have gone anyway.
“The doubles match was crucial. The captain put out his best team. But maybe if we were up 2-0 (from the first day), he would have done things differently,” Azar said.
However, he was confident that they would not be down for long.
“I am very confident (the team will bounce back). I don’t think we are a Group III team. So we definitely will bounce back. The loss stings, no question about it, but it’s only for a short time. We will gather ourselves and come again,” the Tennis Jamaica boss said.
Jamaica trailed for the first three games in the first set of the doubles match but rallied to take the set 6-3.
However, King and Lewis showed a lot of resilience to take the second and third sets 6-4, 6-4.
In the first reverse singles match, Bicknell brushed aside an injured King in two onesided sets, 6-1, 6,0, to level the tie at 2-2.
However, in the final match, Marshall proved too strong in the end for Phillips. The Barbadian won the first set 6-4, but Phillips stormed back to win the second set 6-1.
In the third and final set, Marshall raced to a 4-0 lead before rain interrupted play for nearly an hour. And although Phillips gave the fans some brief hope when he came back to trail 5-2, Marshall went on to seal a 6-2 victory in the final set.
Barbados captain Damien Applewhaite said it was an unbelievable victory for his team.
“This is unbelievable. We know it was going to be a hard-fought tie. Jamaica have a young team, but everything went according to plan.
“We were expected to win the doubles, and we did. But Jamaica played well,” he said.