Doubles win puts SA through to next round

Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse were forced to work hard to win their doubles match which clinched South Africa's Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II tie against Estonia in Pretoria yesterday.

Klaasen, with a doubles world ranking of 13, and Roelofse, 177th, won 6-7 (4) 6-3 6-4 7-5 to secure a 3-0 victory for SA, who in the next round in April will probably face Slovenia on home ground.

Klaasen and Roelofse were not expected to struggle against Kenneth Raisma, ranked 1065th in the world, and Mattias Siimar, who came into the tie unranked, but with a career high of 1561.

But 18-year-old Raisma, the reigning Wimbledon junior doubles champion alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, and Siimar punched above their weight, staving off disaster on several occasions.

story_article_left1

They saved 14 of 17 break points, including three in the first set.

"Those two guys certainly aren't novices in the doubles department," said Klaasen. "They put some moves together that made it difficult for us."

The South Africans had the better of the first set, nailing six aces to three, winning 87% of the points on their first serves compared to Estonia's 80%, and suffering just one double fault to their opponents' three.

SA converted their three break points when it mattered - in the second game of the second set, ninth of the third and 11th of the fourth.

Estonia had just one break point, on Roelofse's serve in the fourth set, but SA saved that with good teamwork, Klaasen producing a great reflex to counter a booming return.

For Estonia, this tie was a sorry Zopp story. Their challenge effectively ended when their top player, Jurgen Zopp, withdrew injured during the opening singles match on Friday.

Had he remained fit, this might have been a long weekend for SA.