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It all came down to the wire in yesterday’s promotion battle in the America’s Group III tournament at the 2025 Davis Cup, as Jamaica were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Puerto Rico and were denied automatic qualification to the Americas Group II tier.
Jamaica, who were drawn in Pool B against Puerto Rico, Honduras and Venezuela, needed a win in the final match of the pool stages to claim the automatic qualifying spot.
They got a strong start, winning their opening two games against Honduras and Venezuela with identical 2-1 scorelines.
However, they were facing an uphill task as they came up against Puerto Rico, who entered the contest atop the pool standings with a record of 5-1, bettering Jamaica’s record of 4-2.
Puerto Rico had the better start to the day’s proceedings as they took the first match in straight sets, with Jake Fellows getting the better of Jamaica’s John Chin 7-6 (7-2) in a tiebreaker, before easily winning the second set 6-2.
Jamaica would rally and level the contest 1-1, as Blaise Bicknell took the second match in straight sets, breezing past Marko Mesarovic 6-3 in the opening set, before sealing a 6-2 scoreline in the second set. Bicknell remained unbeaten throughout the tournament.
With the score locked at 1-1, the game would then be decided in the doubles match, which Puerto Rico won in straight sets.
The odds were alway against the Jamaican team, who had yet to win a double match at the competition. Fellows paired with Gabriel Evans to get the better of Chin and Bicknell 6-3, 6-2.
The result means Puerto Rico have claimed the automatic qualifying spot from Pool B as pool winners, along with Bolivia, who took the honours in Pool A.
PROMOTION PLAY-OFFS
Jamaica end the pool stages second with two points, just ahead of Venezuela who finish third with one point and Honduras who are rooted at the foot of the table without a point, and will be relegated to Group IV.
Despite missing out on the automatic qualification, Jamaica will have a lifeline in the form of a promotion play-off today, where they will face Bermuda who finished second in Pool A.
The winner of that match will earn the final spot in Group II for next year’s staging, while the loser will remain in Group III.
English (US) ·