DAVIS CUP HELD LAST WEEKEND

by David Harris

Barbados has been demoted to World Group III of the Davis Cup after being defeated by Boliva at the Raymond Forde National Tennis Centre in Wildey over the weekend. 

At the end of the first day (Saturday), the match was locked after Kaipo Marshall was defeated 3-6, 6-4, 3-6 by Juan Prado Angelo; but number one seed Darian King battled back from a set down to beat Murkel Dellien 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in a hard-fought contest. 

On Sunday, Boliva regained the lead with their double pair of Borias Arias and Dellien beating King and Stephen Slocombe 6-3, 2-6,6-3, but came to Barbados’ rescue by demolishing  Angelo 7-5, 6-1 in straight sets to level the score and set up a fifth match decider between Marshall and Dellien. 

The decider was a thrilling contest that lasted two hours and 24 minutes; it was played before a large crowd that was aware Marshall needed to win the match for Barbados to remain in Group II. 

Despite the vocal support of the local fans, and a sterling effort by Marshall, the lanky six-footer lost the match 7-6, 7-6 to Dellien. After the match, non-playing captain Damien Applewhaite said he was proud of Marshall’s performance against Dellien. 

“Kaipo was truly punching above his weight; he was playing against world-rated player he had a chance to serve for the first set, unfortunately, he could not pull it off. But Kaipo should be proud of his valiant efforts against Dellien- even though he did not win the match”, Applewhaite said.