THE WINDS never came yesterday. Neither the wins.
This time Barbados came out on the wrong end of an epic Davis Cup heartbreak as neither of the hometown heroes Darian King nor Haydn Lewis managed to win their reverse singles to thwart the Dominican Republic’s great Group I comeback at the National Tennis Centre.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead, the hosts unfortunately fell as flat as the shockingly windless day, with King going under to world No. 56 Victor Estrella in a rare 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 defeat at home before Jose Hernandez came from behind to beat Lewis 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to complete the rally.
It was Barbados’ first loss on home soil since they started playing home and away ties in 2012, and just the second ever, having dropped a Davis Cup tie here in 1990 against Colombia.
The result means the ultramarine and gold may either have to fight for their Group I lives against Uruguay in a do-or-die relegation tie, or play Ecuador to avoid that demotion round, depending on the outcome of the Dominican Republic’s showdown with Ecuador.
It didn’t look like it would come down to that, though, not even when King went down in straight sets, as the left-handed Lewis looked a certain hero again after breaking Hernandez right off the bat en route to taking the first set.
Hernandez did eventually break back for 3-3 in that set, but Lewis came up with an incredible volley and then a huge inside-out forehand pass to break for 6-5, before firing yet another forehand winner to close out the set.
However, the winds that bothered Hernandez all weekend long never picked up, but Lewis’ recurring back injury did, resulting in his first serve percentage dropping with each passing minute.
“I started to serve a lot slower as the match went on because of my back and a lot of my confidence comes from my serve as well as putting a lot of pressure on my opponents,” said Lewis.
“It started to hurt me from about five-all in the first set even though I managed
to pull through that, but gradually it started to hurt more and more, and I was relying on having shorter points but it turned out to be a perfect day so it was easy for him to stay in a groove.”
And Hernandez never got out that groove, firing pristine crosscourt winners from either wing to break a clearly tiring Lewis twice en route to an easy second set.
The match was effectively over when Hernandez broke him again to start and end the third set before also breaking for a quick 1-0 lead at the beginning of the fourth.
“My prayers got answered because the wind here is a big factor. Thank God there was no wind today and I could play my game a lot more,” said Hernandez.
Earlier, King also seemed to get off to a great start when he had two break points on Estrella’s serve to take a possible 2-0 lead.
But Estrella, ranked 235 spots higher than the world No. 291, eventually won the first set and took charge of the second set, dominating the match thereafter by pounding forehand winners against an overmatched King.
The defeat was also King’s first Davis Cup singles loss on home soil, and second in all Davis Cup matches at the National Tennis Centre following last year’s doubles loss against Mexico.
