SO CLOSE!
Jamaica one set short of Davis Cup victory
Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 5:21 PM
‘MR DAVIS Cup’ Rowland Phillips was four games away from staving off the immense challenge of New Zealand in Jamaica’s World Group II Davis Cup playoff tie yesterday at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, but no dice.
In the end, the team of Phillips, Blaise Bicknell, John Chin, Nicholas Gore, and Daniel Azar fell 3-2 to the visitors and will now face World Group III opposition later this year.
The New Zealand team of Ajeet Rai, Kiranpal Pannu, Jack Loutit, Alexander Klintcharov, and Flynn Reynolds will now move on to taking on a World Group II tie in September after staving off relegation.
The day began with the teams locked at 1-1 after Phillips, on Saturday, heroically brought things level with a three-set victory over Pannu, the New Zealand number two.
Jamaica had found themselves down 0-1 after their number-one, coming off a seven-month lay-up after hip surgery, lost in a gruelling three-setter to Loutit.
Bicknell had been in the ascendancy, winning the first set 6-3, but as the match wore on, his lack of match fitness took its toll, leaving him with 2-6, 1-6 losses in the following sets.
Phillips, who has no rank because of how little he plays on the circuit these days, brought the Jamaicans back into the tie with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Pannu.
Yesterday, the Jamaicans again went behind.
Choosing Chin and Gore to go up against Rai and Reynolds, it seemed as if the home team planned on saving Bicknell and Phillips for a final push after Saturday’s exertions. The initial draw on Friday had listed Bicknell and Chin as the duo to take on the doubles challenge.
Chin and Gore lost in straight sets, 1-6, 2-6 but watched as Bicknell came roaring back.
Gone were the unforced errors of the day before and the ‘ring rust’ of a man who had not swung a forearm in anger over the past seven months.
Bicknell was ruthless, winning 6-3, 6-4 against the Kiwi’s highest-ranked player in Rai.
It is unknown why Pannu was not chosen to face Bicknell in the reverse singles.
At 2-2, Phillips was under pressure. He had to face Loutit, an architect in staying in games for the long haul. It was not going to be an easy day, especially against a man ranked more than 500 places higher than Phillips has ever been.
The Jamaican started well, breaking Loutit twice to run out a 6-3 winner in the first set.
Things did not go so well in the second set, Loutit showing his trademark fight after a slow start to win 6-3.
Phillips broke early in the set but Loutit broke back and continued to win.
But Phillips, who never quits either, gave the higher-ranked Loutit a real scare, breaking him early to take a 2-0 lead in the third set as well.
He just had to hold serve for the next four games.
But Loutit wasn’t having any of it.
He stuck it out, failing to break Phillips just once on his way to a 6-3 third-set victory, a 2-1 game, and a 3-2 win for the Kiwis.
“An incredible effort from Jack to get that break back, very smart play, incredibly tough conditions, and he got over the line. I think the first time he was ahead in the score was when he broke the opponent at 3-3 in the third set,” said New Zealand captain Artem Sitak in an interview with Tennis New Zealand, pointing out just how close Jamaica came to getting over the line.