By Tym Glaser,
Associate Editor - Sport
HAVANA:
Jamaica got their Davis Cup America Zone Group 3 campaign off to a superb start yesterday with a 3-0 drubbing of Bolivia at the Centro National de Tenis '19 de Noviembre'.
In hot conditions and before a hardcore dozen Jamaican fans who have made the trip to Cuba for the five-day tournament, singles players Scott Willinsky and Jermaine Smith routed their opponents in the new first to four games per set format.
The lanky Willinsky got the ball rolling and set the tone for the opening day. He broke Bolivian No. 2 Rodrigo Navarro in the first game of the match and then methodically picked the feisty lefthander's game apart on his way to an emphatic 4-0, 4-2, 4-2 triumph.
Navarro played some crunching forehands but lacked the consistency and staying power against Willinsky, who has toughened up his game considerably on the Futures circuit.
After the match, Willinsky, who was playing his first Davis Cup singles match in about five years, said he was comfortable with the responsibility of getting Jamaica off to a good start.
"I served pretty well and played quite steady," he said. "I play tournaments all of the time so it really wasn't any big deal. The guy wasn't good enough to make me nervous."
If the first Cup match was a rout, the second was an annihilation.
Bolivian No. 1, Diego Camacho, had no answer to Smith's power game and was erased 4-1, 4-0, 4-2 in less than an hour.
Smith then combined with Peter Gordon in the doubles and again it was more misery for Navarro and Camacho as they were outclassed 5-3, 2-4, 4-1, 4-1.
Today the Jamaicans face Bermuda who were swept by hosts Cuba in the day's other Group B match-up.
Bermuda, on paper, look the weakest of the four teams in the group and a win would all but guarantee a semi-final berth for Jamaica, but captain Douglas Burke is not taking anything for granted.
"It's true they don't look the strongest team but it's Davis Cup, anything can happen and all these guys can play," Burke said. "I'm thinking of putting Peter (Gordon) in the singles with one of the other guys (Willinsky or Smith) to give one of them a break; then for the doubles, we'll see."
Burke said the opening day went as planned and he was impressed by his two big guns.
"Scott played well -- he played very consistent tennis and then Jermaine came and played an excellent match, he served well, really moved well on the court and closed down the net," Burke said.
After one day of play, the cream appears to have risen to the top. Jamaica and Cuba are the class acts of Group B and their clash tomorrow should be a highlight of the tournament which will see the top two sides advance to Group 2 next year.
In Group A, El Salvador won both singles against Central American rivals Honduras on their way to a 2-1 win while Puerto Rico accounted for Trinidad and Tobago in the tightest tie of the day which also featured the match of the day.
Number ones Shane Stone (T&T) and Gabriel Montilla (Puerto Rico) staged a five-set battle royal which attracted spectators from other matches and allegiances were roughly divided down English-speaking/Spanish-speaking lines.
Montilla eventually emerged victorious 3-5, 5-3, 0-4, 4-1, 5-3, but not before both players took medical timeouts in the final set for cramps.
TODAY'S TIES
Group A: El Salvador vs Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras vs Puerto Rico.
Group B: Cuba vs Bolivia, Bermuda vs Jamaica.
