Guatemala and Haiti have earned a spot in next year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Americas Zone Group II after beating Costa Rica and Bahamas respectively in the decisive day of the week-long Americas Group III event that has taken place in Trinidad and Tobago.
Haiti’s Gonzales Austin had the responsibility of playing the opening match of the decisive play-off against Bahamas’ Rodney Carey. Austin only dropped three games to claim victory and give Haiti the first point of the tie with a final score of 63 60.
Bahamas were forced to win in order to keep their hopes of reaching a spot in next year’s Group II alive. Although the match was significantly more contested than the first rubber, Olivier Sajous secured the victory in the play-off for Haiti with a victory 61 75 over Marvin Rolle.
Haiti now will have the chance to improve their best result in the competition that came in 1990 and 1998 when they reached Americas Group II second round.
In the other decisive play-off tie, Julen Uriguen got Guatemala off to a good start against Costa Rica’s Pablo Nunez and earned the first point of the clash 63 61, putting his country on the brink of the much coveted promotion.
The responsibility of securing promotion was all for Guatemala’s No. 1 Christopher Diaz-Figueroa’s in the second singles match against Ignaci Roca. Diaz-Figueroa, the best ranked player of the event, did not disappoint and earned the promotion for Guatemala with a 62 61 victory in just 54 minutes.
Guatemala’s best results in Davis Cup came when they reached the semifinals of Group II in 1995, 2000 and 2001. Next year, they will have the chance to improve this record and compete against nations like Mexico and Venezuela.
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