Bermuda savour Jamaica victory

Bermuda enjoyed their first taste of victory in the final preliminary round robin match of the Junior Davis Cup in the Dominican Republic, finishing the tournament with a win and two losses.

Bermuda won all three matches against Jamaica and finish third  in the RR group. The matches were scheduled as not before 12:30 PM and we finally took to the courts near 2 PM. The day was cooler with some cloud cover and a pleasant breeze making it more pleasurable for all.

In the first match Tanner Boyle played against Daniel Hill of Jamaica. Tanner had a much better day playing very steady and consistently applying pressure to the Jamaican.

The main difference was simply adding more spin to his favorite forehand drives, this allowed him to move the ball around and pull his opponent out of position and then finish the point of with a winner or nonreturnable.

Still Tanner had to keep his focus and be patient by playing a few more strokes per point than normal. The result was a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victory.

In the second singles match Nick Lines had to work very hard against a calm Kyle Martin. This was a long match going the distance. 

Nick was ahead in the first set and looked set to take charge of the match. His opponent had a good first serve that continually surprised Nick resulting in aces to the ad court. Kyle’s second serve was however somewhat of a liability. Not needing too many second serves the Jamaican turned things around and surprisingly took the first set 6-4.

Now the match was really on and Nick had to find a way back. Kyles first serve fell off and Nick found some energy to retrieve many of Kyle's well placed forehand drives.

The second set went to Nick 6-0 much to the surprise of the handful of Jamaican supporters. In the third and final set both players played well.

There was great shot-making from both ends of the court combined with some periods of nervousness. Both players showed signs of fatigue so it basically came down to who wanted it most and could execute with accuracy

The games reached 3-3 before the Jamaican got a crucial break against Nick in the seventh game.

Kyle followed this up holding his own serve for a 5-3 lead. Nick now had to hold his own serve, or it was all over for him and it would be one match each.

Nick held and now Kyle was to serve for the match at 5-4. Kyle appeared confident but he still had to execute. Nick with some fine angled shots and a lot of hussle surprised the Jamaican with a service break to pull even at 5-5.

He was not out of the woods yet, so to speak. Nick now had to avoid his opponent’s potent forehand in particular with his serve, having had many of his second serves returned for winners. Nick did this well enough to hold serve again and finally go ahead in this final set 6-5.

The pressure shifted to the Jamaican, who did his best to deliver the first serves he was able to make in the first set. It was not to be, that well was dry. Nick was able to return freely against second serves. The pressure was just too much for the Jamaican as the double faults rolled in including having a double fault on the final point.

Bermuda was victorious again winning this match 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

In the final match of doubles the pressure to win the tie was off but players still wanted to win. Nick and Tanner played against Daniel Hill and Cliff Dwyer. The first set was a comfortable 6-2 win for Bermuda. With fading light all were anxious to complete the match at least from the Bermuda standpoint. Jamaica had other ideas as they stayed with Bermuda game for game.

At 3-3 games all in the second the match had to be moved to a floodlit court. These were the only two teams left at the tennis ground. The match continued on Stadium court and actually restarted before the lighting was at full power. The Jamaican's seemed to play with renewed enthuiasm, perhaps they were energized by the lighting. Bermuda were troubled, having issues with finding their range. There was an exchange of service breaks and then came a second set tiebreak. It was either win and go home for Bermuda or Jamaica would force a deciding set. Jamaica took an early lead in the TB, but relinquished it a couple of points later. Although this was doubles, there was a number of rallies from the baseline. Jamaica blinked once too many and Bermuda took advantage of this and claimed the TB 7-4. The final score being 6-2, 7-6 (4).