Davis Cup men beat Cuba 2-1 to top group

Senior Multimedia Reporter

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T&T’s Davis Cup men moved within a game of promotion from the Americas Zone Group Four to Group Three yesterday.

This after they defeated Cuba 2-1 in a hotly contested affair at the Rakiura Resort Court in Luque, Paraguay, in the Americas Zone Davis Cup Tournament. The result now assures the team of Kamran McIntosh-Ross, Dillon Beckles, Akiel Duke, and Kale Dalla Costa will face the possibility of taking on the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), the potential second-place team in Group B in the promotional play-off.

The USVI defeated Suriname yesterday, while Group B leaders up to yesterday, Aruba, was also in winner’s row against Antigua and Barbuda.

T&T went under 1-0 in the first game when McIntosh-Ross was beaten by Denilson Martinez in straight sets, 6-1 and 7-5. However, Beckles, in the second rubber, knotted up the scores one apiece when United States-based Beckles delivered a flawless 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Alberto Gonzales to push the match to the doubles to be decided.

Only the day before, T&T’s doubles pair of Duke and Dalla Costa ensured a 3-0 victory over Honduras, courtesy of outscoring the combination of Guillermo Alfonso Bennaton and Miguel Angel Lopez Alcerro 6-3, 6-0. And when they were called upon a second time yesterday, they did not fail the red, white, and black of the twin-island Republic.

Needing to win to seal the tie, the Duke-Dalla Costa combination pushed themselves ahead 1-0 with a 7-5 victory in the opening set. And though the Cubans fought back desperately in the second set, it could do nothing to prevent the T&T team from prevailing 7-6(5) in the tiebreak for the top spot in the group.

The T&T quartet need only to win in the promotional play-off today to be assured of a place in Group Three of the Americas Zone.

Only last month, the T&T Billie Jean King Cup team of Jordane Dookie, Solange Skeene, and Anneliese Rose earned promotion to Group Two of the Americas Zone of the Billie Jean King Cup when they defeated El Salvador 2-1 in the promotional play-off.