Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
Jamaica's doubles team of Ryan Russell (left) and Damar Johnson in action during their Americas Zone group two Davis Cup tie against Cuba at the Liguanea Club. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S QUEST to stay in Group Two of the Davis Cup Americas Zone was thwarted for a second straight day yesterday at the Liguanea Club, New Kingston.
Needing just a point to remain in the Group against Cuba after winning the first two singles encounters on Friday, Hurricane Emily washed out hopes of a possible sealing doubles victory on Saturday and the gritty visitors prolonged the wait with a superb five-set doubles win yesterday to pull a point back in the tie.
The showdown will now be decided by today's reverse singles which will pit Jamaica's No. 1 player, Ryan Russell, against his Cuban opposite number, Ricardo Chile-Fonte at 10:00 a.m., to be followed by Damar Johnson probably facing Edgar Hernandez- Perez.
With their backs to the wall and facing relegation to inauspicious Group Three, Cubans Chile-Fonte and livewire Sandor Martinez-Breijo survived a mid-match rally from Russell and Johnson to win the pivotal match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 and give their country some hope of staying in Group Two.
MOMENTUM SHIFT
Disappointed Jamaica team captain Douglas Burke said the Cubans had gained a momentum shift yesterday and thoroughly deserved their doubles victory.
"The Cubans came out very strong, they got in 90 per cent of their first serves in the first two sets so it really didn't give us any chance to attack," Burke said yesterday.
"In the third set we switched around our players on the serving and that gave us a little break and we started playing a little better and it became a momentum shift in our favour," he said. In the fifth set, it got a little gusty out there, Tamar had some trouble in one service game, they played some great returns and got the vital break.
"Full credit to them ... they really kept us guessing in their service games, we were able to turn it around, but the fifth set just slipped away from us," he said.
As a testament to the quality of play, each set was decided by a solitary break but the Cubans, through fine service placement and a little more steadiness in all-court play, looked to be strolling to a straight sets triumph which would have forced at least one singles match to be played yesterday.
However, the Jamaicans, before an enthusiastic crowd, turned the match midway through the third set.
Johnson survived a string of forehand winners from Martinez-Breijo to just hold in the seventh game and then Chile-Fonte tightened up in the following service game and Russell and Johnson claimed their first break of the match. Russell comfortably served out to make the scoreline 2-1.
The Jamaican again broke Chile-Fonte in the third game of the fourth set to take a 2-1 lead, survived a nail-biting fourth game from Johnson, which included four break points, to go up 3-1 and then held safely to set up the decisive set.
The match was ultimately decided in the sixth game of the final set when teenager Johnson dropped serve meekly to give Cuba, dubbed Mexico to the mirth of fans at one stage by the chair umpire, a critical 4-2 edge which they protected to the end of the match with little trouble.
Pure numbers don't do justice to the quality of play as all players pulled off an array of tremendous volleys, lobs, and even one between-the-legs circus shot from Chile-Fonte. However the key factor was 24-year-old 'doubles specialist' Martinez-Breijo who was the best player on the court and the Cubans' emotional spark plug.
If today's singles come down to a decisive game five, it would not surprise if the Cuban management replaced Hernandez-Perez with Martinez-Breijo.
"I think that is something that they will definitely be thinking about," Burke said of a player change. "It is quite possible."
