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The home side, playing at the Park Tivoli Tennis Complex in the capital Ljubljana won the opening rubber when their second ranked player, Blaz Rola beat South African number one, Rik De Voest in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
De Voest, ranked 162 in world struggled on the slow clay against the talented Rola ranked 208.
Rola, the current NCAA Champion held serve throughout the match.
Slovenian Captain, Blaz Trupej described the performance as "outstanding".
"Rik De Voest is a remarkable player with a great fighting spirit.
"But today Rola played outstanding and really did his country proud.
"Rola was simply remarkable, didn’t drop serve throughout.
"He was majestic! Bravo Blaz Bravo!”
After Rola's demolition of De Voest, the Slovenian number 1, Blaz Kavcic gave his country the important second point with a straight set win over South African Ruan Roelofse.
Kavcic, ranked 105, made quick work of Roelofse, ranked 400
spots behind Kavcic on the world rankings, winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hours 47
minutes.
Kavcic won the first set in 23 minutes losing only 3 points on serve.
Overall Kavcic won 87 points to 57 won by Roelofse.
De Voest felt that he didn’t play badly in the first rubber
despite his loss.
“I was comfortable on the clay and felt I was striking the ball well out there.
"Rola is just a real talent and played very well today.
"Rola started fast and I thought he might cool down but he didn’t and was just a much better player on the day” said De Voest.
South African Captain, John Laffnie De Jager said it had been a real tough day at the office but he was proud in the effort his boys put in.The doubles rubber will be played at 14:00 on Saturday.
South Africa will have to win the doubles rubber to keep the tie
alive going into Sunday.
A win by Slovenia in the doubles on Saturday will
secure the home team the tie.
Friday:
Blaz Rola (SLO) bt Rik de Voest (RSA) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) bt Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4
Saturday:
Janez Semrajc/Grega Zemlja (SLO) v Raven Klaasen/Ruan Roelofse (RSA)
Sunday:
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) v Rik de Voest (RSA)
Blaz Rola (SLO) v Ruan Roelofse (RSA)
