?Barbados didn’t need Haydn Lewis after all.
?Not when the King continues to hold court.
This country is remaining in the Davis Cup Americas Zone Group II on the shoulders of Darian King, as Barbados’ top-ranked pro battled from a set down to win yesterday’s reverse singles and wrap up the relegation play-off against Puerto Rico 3-1 at the National Tennis Centre, Wildey.
Backed by the biggest and most vocal crowd of the weekend, King rallied for a gritty 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 comeback win over Alex Llompart to render Lewis’ reverse singles match against Christian Garay meaningless.
The decision to forgo that final match was about the only setback to an enthralling day that promised so much with the anticipated battle of both countries’ No.1s.
And the titanic clash didn’t disappoint, with King and Llompart trading blows like prizefighters before doing the same with the first two sets of the match.
There wasn’t much in the third set either, especially after King broke Llompart just to give it right back in the very next game as part of a gruelling and heart-stopping 4-4 deadlock.
But the hometown hero swung the contest in his favour just moments later, battling back from down 30-0 to produce a pinpoint lob that helped to break a clearly tiring Llompart again for a crucial 5-4 lead.
King then wasted no time in consolidating the break this time by coming up with a huge service winner followed by two points off serve and volleying to close out the third set 6-4.
Llompart all but capitulated thereafter, routinely spraying his favoured forehand long and wide while having to save break points off two of his first three service games to start the fourth set. He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, though, dumping successive backhands in the net before King broke him for a 4-3 lead off a silky-smooth volley winner.
The Bajan No.1 then was at his sublime best to close out the match, zinging a backhand passing shot down the line before coming back with another one cross court to break the luckless Llompart and seal the rubber.
It proved the sensational finish to a match that got off to a rousing start when the two players were busy producing lusty groundstrokes from deep on the baseline.
However, Llompart missed two easy backhands and King capitalised by whistling a big backhand return winner to break and go up 4-2. But the Puerto Rican answered right back by taking King’s ensuing service game before breaking him again and serving out the set at 7-5.
“I had a few unforced errors which allowed him to get back into the game and in tennis you need an advantage and to stay up there,” said King.
“He played well to come back in the game but me and [Davis Cup captain] Kevin [Yarde] said we still have four sets to go.
In actual fact it proved to be just three.
With the partisan home support clearly driving him, King quickly took control of the second set by working Llompart’s weaker backhand while coming in behind some deep approaches to finish points earlier.
The result was Llompart being broken for a quick 3-1 lead before King consolidated for a 4-1 cushion on the way to taking the set at 6-3. And he was back at it soon afterwards, breaking Llompart for a 4-3 advantage in the third set before the match hung in the balance when the Puerto Rican returned the favour just moments later.
“I really want to thank everyone for coming out because without them I most likely would’ve been giving up or not feeling as confident as I did,” King said of the boisterous crowd.
