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Pretoria- In front of an enthusiastic home crowd, South African doubles specialist Ruan Roelofse and Dean O'Brien overcame Ireland's James Cluskey and David O'Hare in straight sets 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-3 to clinch an overall victory for team South Africa in the Davis Cup on Saturday at the Irene Country Club.
South Africa now lead the tie 3-0 heading into Sunday’s reverse singles and have avoided being relegated to Euro/Africa Zone 3 in 2016.
The South African duo knew that they had a difficult task ahead of them against the much higher ranked Irish team.
“As a team we knew we had it all to do today against guys who have played together much longer than we have, so staying focused and playing with a high intensity played an important part for us”, said O’Brien.
Roelofse who now stands at three wins and no losses in Davis Cup ties was extremely proud of the team’s effort this weekend.
“Even though Dean and I won the tie today we know that it took team effort to get this result, and we are just extremely happy that we won today.”
The rubber lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Davis Cup Team Captain Earl Grainger was extremely pleased that the tie had been sealed going into the final day and now he could celebrate with his team.
“This is a great start for what I believe is the future of South African tennis and I could not be more proud of the guys”, says Grainger.
“Each and every member of my squad played an important part in the overall victory. I am extremely grateful to each one of them and proud to be their captain.”
Sundays reverse singles will feature South African No 1 Tucker Vorster taking on Ireland's No 1 James McGee followed by South African No 2 Fritz Wolmarans taking on Ireland's No 2 Sam Barry.
Play starts at 09:30.
Tickets are available from www.webtickets.co.za or at the gate.
DAVIS CUP EUROPE/AFRICA ZONE GROUP 2 RELEGATION PLAY-OFF
Order of play/results
Friday
Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) bt James McGee (IRE) 7-6 (7/0), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
Tucker Vorster (RSA) bt Sam Barry (IRE) 6-1, 6-7 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
Saturday
Dean O’Brien/Ruan Roelofse (RSA) bt James Cluskey/David O’Hare (IRE) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-3
Sunday
Tucker Vorster (RSA) v James McGee (IRE)
Followed by
Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) v Sam Barry (IRE)
