TT men out Davis Cup

Host nation Trinidad and Tobago needed Honduras to beat the Haitians to advance. A Honduran victory would have left both nations with two defeats and as many victories, to stand a chance of advancing.

However, the Haitians had ulterior plans. Gonzales Austin eased past Marco Osorio 6-3, 6-4; world ranked (613th) Olivier Sajous’ was merciless as he dismissed Alejandro Obando 6-0, 6-0. The pair of Joel Allen and Johann Coles went on to cop the Doubles 6-0, 7-5 to win the tie 3-0.

The local contingent will now have a chance at finishing fifth, if they can beat long time rival Jamaica. This clash is a result of both teams finishing third in there groups. Haiti’s victory over Honduras meant that they qualified second in their group behind the Guatemalans.

Meanwhile, the Guatemalans made no mistake and completed pool A with a perfect record scoring a 3-0 victory over Aruba. Sebastien Vidal (6-4, 6-4) took care of Gian Hodgson while the tournament’s highest ranked player, Christopher Diaz (474th) defeated Ibian Hodgson 6-0, 6-1.

Diaz then sat in the stands and watched as Wilfredo Gonzalez and Vidal thumped Mitchell De Jong and Ibian Hodgson 6-1, 6-2.

In other matches, Costa Rica suffered straight set defeat at the hands of the dominant Bahamians. Rodney Carey came through in three sets against Pablo Nunez 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

In the second match, Mavin Rolle defeated Ignaci Roca 6-2, 6-1 for a comfortable lead then Carey and Rolle combined to trash Nunez and Ignaci 6-0, 6-2.

Additionally, Jamaica needed a 3-0 victory to qualify second in their pool, but their hopes were dashed in the very first match when Walner Espinoza slammed a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Dominic Pagon.

Brandon Burke added salt to their wounds with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) win over Fernando Luis Garcia to force the decider. Burke and Pagon then combined to beat Jose Juan Fuentes and Espinoza 6-1, 6-2.

In today’s semi-finals, Guatemala will face off against Costa Rica while Bahamas will play Haiti. The winners of these two semi-finals will be promoted to the Davis Cup Americas Zone group 2. Panama and Honduras will be competing for 7th and 8th positions as both teams finished fourth in their pools. Both the US Virgin Islands and Aruba will try to avoid cellar position in their 9th and 10th place clash.