Rain interrupts Barbados fight in Davis Cup Tie

AFTER just one hour and 25 minutes, the sky opened and halted the fourth rubber of the Americas Zone Group II Tie between Barbados and Venezuela at the Barbados Tennis Centre in Wildey yesterday.

Barbados are in a must-win situation and each country put their number one players, Darian King and Ricardo Rodriguez-Pace, on the court for what was supposed to be the first rubber of the third day.

Play started under overcast skies and as expected, there was a brief rain interruption in the first set.

The first set saw some intense baseline rallies as both players played some of their best and aggressive shots.

Barbados’ King was broken in the first set before he was able to pull back level by breaking Rodriguez-Pace in the eighth game to go back on serve at 4-4.

But the 817 singles-ranked Rodriguez-Pace kept his aggressive play going and managed to break the 156-ranked King once again late in the set to close it out 7-5.

King had two of his fingers taped during the break as they may be tender or blistered from his long doubles rubber on Saturday.

With the set still on serve, a heavy downpour came with the set 2-1 and Rodriguez-Pace serving with the score on 30-30.

Mop-up efforts began again around 4:30 p.m., but just when it looked like it was dry enough for play to resume, the rain came again.

Barbados trail in the Tie 1-2. (CG)