Stories by WALTER ALIBEY
walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
T&T’s Davis Cup men now face a slim chance of survival in Group B of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Americas Group IV tournament at the National Racquet Centre (NRC) in Orange Grove, Tacarigua, when they again went down to a hard-fought 3-0 loss to Cuba.
It follows a similar 3-0 defeat by Aruba on the opening day of the tournament on Monday, with only the top two teams progressing from the group following a round-robin play-off. The Cubans in their first match were also victorious 2-1 over the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).
T&T now has a rest day today before springing into action against Nicaragua tomorrow, needing to win to stay alive.
The source of their problems has been linked to the Arubans, but made worst by the Cubans, who yesterday, in the opening rubber, saw Osmei Rivera stormed back from an opening set victory for T&T’s Joseph Cadogan 7-6 to level the scores at one-apiece, courtesy of a 7-5 triumph in the second set.
Cadogan, after losing to Frederick Sydow of Aruba on Monday, was determined to make amends, but injury sadly decided the outcome of his match as he was forced to retire hurt due to a leg injury.
Rivera’s first-game victory 6-7, 7-5(retired) had now set the pace for his countryman Osviel Turino in the second rubber up against Ebolum Nwokolo, who like Cadogan, was desperate to make up for his loss the day before.
However, Nwokolo failed to match his opponent stride-for-stride and succumbed to a straight-sets 6-1, 6-3 loss that handed the Cubans a 2-0 advantage and victory, with the doubles still to play. T&T coach Dunstan Denoon again used the fresh pair of legs of Nabeel Mohammed and Akile Duke for the doubles, while the Cubans brought in Yoan Perez to join Rivera, which proved to be the right formula.
The combination of Mohammed and Duke worked well in sealing the opening set 7-6 (3) but they could not stop Cuba from taking the other two sets 7-5 and 6-3.
Nicaragua, the other group B campaigners on the day, started with a 3-0 victory over USVI, as first rubber Francisco Bendana clobbered Luca Del Olmo 6-0, 6-1 on court two and later Joaquin Guilleme came from a set down 3-6 to prevail over Tomas Del Olmo 6-0, 6-3.
The Nicaraguan pair of Luis Marquez and Alfredo Gallegos reigned supreme over Nicholas Bass and Luca Del Olmo 6-0, 6-3 in the doubles.
In Group ‘A’ Haiti also delivered a convincing 3-0 win over Honduras, while Antigua had a similar victory 3-0 over Bermuda, all on court three.