South Africa wrapped up their Euro/Africa Zone Group One Davis Cup tie against Greece with a comfortable 7-6 (-8-6) 6-1 6-2 victory in the doubles at the Groenkloof Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
The victory of Jeff Coetzee and Rik de Voest over the Greek pair of Konstantinos Economidis and Alexander Jakupovic gives the South Africans an unassailable 3-0 lead going into Sunday’s two reverse singles matches.
De Voest and Coetzee, paired together in doubles for the first time, exceeded the expectations of even coach Kevin Curren as they combined superbly to win the match in one hour and 41 minutes. De Voest was particularly impressive at the net.
In very windy conditions, Coetzee set up the first break of the match in the seventh game of the first set with a sublime lob which fell just inside the baseline. The South African cause was helped by a double fault from Jakupovic to concede the game. The home team took the next game as well.
But their eagerness to close the set produced a few unforced errors, allowing Greece the opportunity to break serve and take the lead at 6-5.
The South Africans levelled to force the tie break, which they won 8-6 with De Voest leading the charge.
The South Africans then visibly lifted their games and broke twice in a second set they clinched with ease, helped again by another costly double fault by Jakupovic.
A break as early as the first game in the third set saw South Africa race into a quick 4-0 lead which also gave them victory in the last nine games of this match.
At 5-2 Coetzee had three match points on his serve and needed only one to secure the win.
”I was very encouraged by this performance. I never expected them to play at this level as a first time combination,” Curren said. ”It’s always tough when you introduce a new combination. Sometimes it can take six months to a year for a doubles combination to gel. But Rik and Jeff clicked very well. They played to a very high standard today and if they can play like this in the future then I believe this will form the core of our doubles team.”
Curren added that the much publicised retirement of South African number one Wayne Ferreira and speculation surrounding his future as coach should not detract from the fact that, in his belief, South African tennis was on the rise.
”Overall, we’ve got the core of our team in place. With Wayne (Ferreira) retiring we’ve identified some young players and are watching them carefully. Wesley Moodie is ready to step into the number one spot in the team and Rik is putting his hand up for the second singles spot. So I think South African tennis is on the rise.
”I’ve got to sit down with Sata (South African Tennis Association) and discuss how best we can approach the future. Wayne has stated quite clearly that he wants to remain involved, so we need to make the decision going forward and one which is in the best interests of South African tennis.” – Sapa