Tennis Jamaica President John Azar is over the moon following Jamaica’s 3-2 victory over Estonia in their Davis Cup World Group Two qualifying tie on Sunday.
“This is a good team with a good balance. It is a very solid team, and we feel good about where we are. These guys have excellent chemistry, and they will keep working, and I certainly like what I see,” the Tennis Jamaica boss said.
Team captain Mel Spence believes the victory is justified.
“We’ve put in a lot of hard work, and we deserve to be in the position we are in. Randy (Phillips) was incredible. Blaise (Bicknell) didn’t play his best tennis but fought very well. It is the first we have been to Group Two for 25 years, and it is just awesome.”
He added: “The spotlight is now on us, and it is for us to push on.”
Hosted at the resurfaced courts at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre on Saturday and Sunday, Jamaica secured their place in the semi-finals of Group Two play for the first time in a quarter of a century.
The victors claimed a 2-0 lead after singles play on Saturday courtesy of Rowland “Randy” Phillips, who had defeated Krisjtian Tamm 6-1, 6-1, and Blaise Bicknell, who had beaten Kenneth Raisma 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Jamaica suffered defeat in the doubles on Sunday but rallied in the first of the two reverse singles to claim victory with an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Jamaica’s John Chin and Daniel Azar were beaten in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to give the visitors a lifeline.
However, Blaise Bicknell secured victory in the first of the reverse singles with a 7-6 (9-7) result in the first set tiebreaker forcing his frustrated opponent Tamm to throw his racquet which hit a match official and triggered an automatic default.
And by the time Johannes Seaman defeated Jacob Bicknell 6-1, 6-0 to claim the last reverse singles match, which was of academic interest only, the tie was long over.
Blaise Bicknell was confident of victory. “I knew that I was going to win that match because I had the momentum going into that second set. I felt good and the crowd was behind me, and the team was behind me and so it was incredible to get the job done for the country.”
He added: “This is massive for Jamaica’s tennis… we can’t explain this feeling because we have been trying for years to get to this point.”
Estonia’s captain Ekke Tiidemann admitted that his teammate Tamm made a costly mistake.
“Everybody saw what happened, so he made a mad decision by throwing the racquet and if you do that then you are defaulted immediately.”
