SA clinch Cup tie against Slovenia
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Sock gamble keeps US alive in Davis Cup
Serbia, France eye Davis Cup semi-finals
In front of
an enthusiastic soldout home crowd, KIA South African doubles specialist
Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse overcame Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja and
Tomislav Ternar in straight sets 7-6 (6) 6-2 6-4 to clinch an overall
victory for South Africa in the Davis Cup on Saturday at the Irene
Country Club in Pretoria.
South Africa now lead the tie
3-0 heading into Sunday’s reverse singles and earn a chance to play for
promotion in September
for a possible place in Euro/Africa Group 1 next
year.
The South African duo knew although they were clear
favourites, the task would be difficult especially on altitude.
Also, the Slovenian Captain,
Blaz Tropej made a change at the eleventh hour to his doubles team
replacing Tilen Zitnik with Zemlja.
“As a team, we knew we had it
all to do today. The doubles may only be one point out of five in a tie
but today Ruan and I knew we could either clinch victory for South
Africa or put pressure on the singles players for Sunday’s reverse
singles,” said Klaasen.
Klaasen said that it was a pleasure to go into the doubles rubber knowing his team were up 2-0.
“Both Lloyd Harris and Nik
Scholtz played their part on Friday with two excellent wins. So it was
time for Ruan and I to deliver the favour back,” continued Klaasen.
Roelofse, who now stands at seven wins and no losses in Davis Cup ties, was extremely proud of the team’s effort this weekend.
“Even though Raven and I won
the tie today we know that it took team effort to get this result, and
we are just extremely happy that we won today.”
The doubles rubber lasted one hour and 49 minutes.
South Africa Davis Cup Team
Captain Marcos Ondruska was extremely pleased that the tie had been
sealed going into the final day and now he could celebrate with his
team.
“I am not only pleased, I am
ecstatic with the win. I felt my team played the best tennis I have ever
seen them play. On Friday Lloyd was simply brilliant giving his
opponent no chance whatsoever. Nik fought a fight like no other – coming
back from match points down to win probably the best win of his career.
The doubles boys put the cherry on the cake by doing a great job on
court today,” said Ondruska.
“Each and every member of my
squad played an important part in the overall victory. I am extremely
grateful to each one of them and proud to be their captain.”
Sunday's reverse singles will
feature South African No 1 Lloyd Harris taking on Slovenian No 1 Grega
Zemlja followed by South African No 2 Nik Scholtz taking on Slovenians
No 2 Mike Urbanija.
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