Barbados, Venezuela all even after first day of Davis Cup

Barbados’ Darian King had a light workout when his opponent retired from the match to allow Barbados to draw level with Venezuela 1-1 in their Americas Zone Group II Davis Cup Tie.

Playing yesterday at the National Tennis Centre in Wildey, Barbados fell behind when debutante Matthew Foster-Estwick was defeated in straight sets by Ricardo Rodriguez-Pace 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

Foster-Estwick had some highlights during his match, sending down two back-to-back aces before he was called for a foot fault, which broke his rhythm.

In his first match for Barbados, he was the first to play and he was broken in his very first service game as he was visibly tight and playing some tentative shots.

He showed glimpses of what he is capable of with some impressive volleys and passing shots to eventually hold his second service game.

The shot of the game happened when he was lobbed by Rodriguez-Pace and he sprinted back to the base line and played a shot through his legs. Rodriguez-Pace had already approached the net, but was unable to handle the return, which he sent back into the net to give Foster-Estwick the point.

However, there were too many unforced errors in Foster-Estwick’s game and he found it hard to hold serve despite a big first serve.

As Darian King took to the court, the crowd gave him an applause and the students from St. Gabriel’s all shouted out in unison, which got a smile from the Barbados number one player.

It was a tentative start from King and Venezuela’s Jordi Munoz-Abreu in the second rubber, as both were broken in their first service game.

But then King, who had not played any competitive tennis since his historic US Open Grand Slam match, started to come into his own.

In the third game of the set, Munoz-Abreu appeared to be stretching his back as he bent over briefly before the start.

King went on to win the first set easily 6-1.

However, it turned out that he had a stomach issue, which got worse during the match and he felt like vomiting on occasions and at 1-0 the visitor decided to retire handing the game to King.

“When I was in the court to practice for the match I felt bad in my stomach, something burning inside,” said Munoz-Abreu.

King had planned to get off the court as early as possible, but could not predict it being this quickly as he still was looking to get in at least three sets to get back in the groove.

King said there are “still a few things to work on”, and he just wanted to get back into the matches and get back out there and fight for every point.

The doubles rubber is slated for today at noon when King will team up with Haydn Lewis to face Luis Martinez and Jordi Munoz-Abreu. (CG)