Dominant Proteas thrash Luxembourg in Davis Cup

THE tennis fraternity has long been waiting for a new breed of players to work their way up in the Davis Cup rankings.

Over the weekend they experienced a new breed of tennis players when these youngsters put together during the Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg. The Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group 2 Round 1 was played from Friday, 4 March to Sunday, 6 March at Irene Country Club.

“We hope to keep these youngsters for a period of time so that they can win and lose together and form a team,” said South African Davis Cup captain Marcos Ondruska.

A dominant South African Davis Cup team romped to a 5-0 win over Luxembourg, which sealed the Davis Cup tie.

South Africa failed to lose a set in all five rubbers played in the three-day tie and was in firm control throughout.

On Sunday in the reverse singles, which were reduced to best of three tie-break sets as the tie had already been decided, Tucker Vorster and Lloyd Harris gave South Africa the clean sweep.

Vorster beat Tom Diederich 6-3 6-4 while Harris beat Alex Knaff 6-2 6-1 in front of an impressive and enthusiastic crowd.

Ondruska, said he couldn’t be happier with his first outing as captain. “I am extremely happy and proud of my team. It was a dream start to my Davis Cup captaincy and my players executed well and really lifted their games to a high level, kept composed and put on a good show. We failed to lose a set this weekend, didn’t take any set to a tie-breaker and that showed the form of the entire team was on point.”

Ondruska said that the solid win was a team effort, “The entire squad has got on extremely well and this played a huge part in the weekend success. The guys have had a fun time and made the most of every opportunity, which helped a lot with the win.” Ondruska also thanked fifth squad member Keith-Patrick Crowley and trainer Karen van der Merwe for their valuable contributions.

On Saturday, the South African doubles team of Dean O’Brien and Ruan Roelofse sealed the tie with a straight set win over Ugo Nastasi and Mike Scheidweiler 6-3 7-5 6-2. Vorster and Harris both opened procedures on Friday with an identical score (6-1 6-4 6-4) wins over their respective opponents Alex Knaff and Udo Nastasi in the singles rubbers.