King books Barbados a date in Round 3

Guatemala’s perfect record against Barbados is no more as the local Davis Cup team secured a spot in Round 3 of Group 2 Americas yesterday. Barbados took their first ever win against the Central American team when a straight-sets victory from Darian King gave the hosts the tie with still one match to go.

Playing at the National Tennis Centre, Guatemala was hoping for the win after Barbados picked up a two-one lead the previous day following the Doubles match. However, their dreams of advancing to the final round before promotion were dashed as King beat Christopher Diaz-Figueroa 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

King had a slow start in the first set, with Diaz-Figueroa breaking his serve in the very first game. The Guatemalan then went on to lead two games to none and four games to two before King mounted a comeback, winning the next four games and two break points to close out the first set.

The second set saw Diaz-Figueroa breaking King once again in the first game before taking another two-nil lead. King would bounce back to win five games straight and put Diaz-Figueroa under loads of pressure. The frustrations would set in and an outburst saw the Guatemalan being issued a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Diaz-Figueroa’s next service saw him holding to bring the score to 5-3 in King’s favour. Both men were tested in the ninth as the set point battle saw the period running just minutes shy of an hour. With neither willing to give up any ground King fought every ball in a bid to close out the set while Diaz-Figueroa challenged every play as he struggled to stay alive. Passing shots, aces, drop shots and long rallies were the order of business as the advantage changed hands too many times to keep track.

King changed up things in the third and final set as he won the first game, but Diaz-Figueroa, who refused to give in was there to break his service and draw level at a game each. King was able to break him back in the third before holding out for the three-one lead. Diaz-Figueroa had a bright spark as he rolled over King to take the fifth game at love, but that was as far as it would go for him. King won all remaining games picking up an additional two break points and returning a favour by winning the final game at love.

Speaking to members of the media in the post-game conference, King said that it was smooth sailing for him throughout the over two-hour match.

“I guess it was a comfortable match for me. We went out there with what we wanted – going up two-one from the Doubles. And like I said, I played Christopher (Diaz-Figueroa) throughout my whole career through Futures, Challengers and he knows how I play and I know how he plays. It’s just that I came out much better today, and I guess my game-plan worked against him,” King said.

With King’s serve playing a major part in his recent performances, he put the improvements down to gym work, and said he hoped the form would translate to the road.

“I have been working on my legs and trying to get up for the serve. As you can see, I have been working a lot on my fitness and going in the gym regularly, and it has been paying off. To me, it looked like he was wearing down himself and to me, I looked kind of fresh. It looks like it’s paying off but obviously I hope that I can carry over to the pro tour now when I play my next couple of tournaments, make every game physical, and hopefully I can come out with some upsets,” he said.

Guatemala were able to leave with a consolation as the fifth and final rubber saw Haydn Lewis going down to Wilfredo Gonzalez, in a two best of three match. Gonzalez won the first set, 7-5, while Lewis struck back in the second to win at 6-4. The deciding set went down to a tie-break that saw Gonzalez winning 7-6,7-5.

Barbados are now set to face Venezuela, who beat El Salvador three-two in their tie.