USA-based Kam­ran McIn­tosh-Ross and Dil­lon Beck­les both won their sin­gles match­es in con­trast­ing styles as the T&T men’s ten­nis team blanked US Vir­gin Is­lands 2-0 to seal pro­mo­tion from the sev­en-team Davis Cup Group IV Amer­i­c­as Tour­na­ment in Paraguay, Sat­ur­day.

Play­ing at the Rak­iu­ra Re­sort Clay Courts in Luque, the Dun­stan De Noon-coached T&T play­ers were hand­ed a pos­i­tive start in the best-of-three se­ries when 22-year-old McIn­tosh-Ross over­came a first-set tie-break loss to de­feat Yared Al­fred 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(6) in a marathon clash which last­ed three hours and two min­utes.

Beck­les, 19, then took to the courts know­ing that a vic­to­ry against Graeme An­gus would seal pro­mo­tion for the T&T boys, and he made no mis­take in claim­ing vic­to­ry as he dom­i­nat­ed his op­po­nent 6-1, 6-4 in 90 min­utes to spark off cel­e­bra­tions amongst his team­mates which al­so in­clud­ed 17-year-old Kale Dal­la Cos­ta and Akiel Duke, 32, who were set to play the dou­bles tie if need­ed.

Join­ing T&T in gain­ing pro­mo­tion to Group III was Aru­ba, who al­so beat Cu­ba 2-0 with Kyle Frankel beat­ing De­nil­son Mar­tinez 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and Patrick Sydow over­com­ing Al­ber­to Gon­za­lez 6-1, 6-0 ahead of the dou­bles tie.

In the fifth-place play­off, Hon­duras al­so record­ed a 2-0 tri­umph against Suri­name.

When the round-robin phase end­ed on Fri­day, T&T topped the three-team Group A qual­i­fiers af­ter wins over Cu­ba, 2-1, and Hon­duras, 3-0, while the Cubans took sec­ond af­ter edg­ing past Hon­duras, 2-1, in the open­ing tie.

In Group B, Aru­ba end­ed with a 3-0 mark af­ter de­feat­ing Suri­name and An­tigua & Bar­bu­da, both by 3-0 mar­gins, and US Vir­gin Is­lands, 2-1.

The USVI end­ed sec­ond in the four-team pool via wins over An­tigua & Bar­bu­da and Suri­name in sim­i­lar 3-0 fash­ions while Suri­name blanked An­tigua & Bar­bu­da, 3-0.

The T&T men's Davis Cup team pro­mo­tion comes on the back of the T&T women's team of Solange Skeene, Jor­dane Dook­ie and An­neliese Rose, al­so coached by De Noon, pro­mo­tion from the Amer­i­c­as Group Three Bil­lie Jean King Cup qual­i­fiers at the Fed­era­cion Sal­vadore­na de Te­nis in San Sal­vador, El Sal­vador, in June.