BRING ON EL SALVADOR.
The man they call “D” brought his A-game again as hometown hero Darian King put Barbados into another Davis Cup showdown with their Central American rivals after wrapping up yesterday’s tie with a straight-set walloping of Chilean Gonzalo Lama at the National Tennis Centre.
Backed by easily the biggest crowd of the weekend, the 21-year-old top-ranked pro held strong for a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory in the reverse singles to give the hosts a decisive 3-1 lead over Chile and render Haydn Lewis’ final match of the Americas Group II rubber meaningless.
It’s the second year in a row and the third time in six years that Barbados will be pitted against El Salvador, who won their last two meetings including last year’s first-round tie in Santa Tecla.
The much-awaited April rematch will be in Barbados after King wrapped up yet another rubber by improving to 8-0 in all Group II matches played on home soil.
“I just have to thank everyone that came out [because] I wouldn’t have done it without them,” said King, who went through the crowd after the match to personally thank almost every single patron.
“I played 11 sets in three days and it’s the first time I ever did it so the crowd really helped me out and kept me battling.
“I think this is one of my biggest victories too especially as I am playing for my country and leaving it all on the court. To put Barbados back on the map is fantastic,” he added.
It was a scene of pure jubilation after King eventually clinched the match, and the tie, some two hours into the match when Lama dumped successive forehands in the net to send the huge crowd support into a frenzy.
This was directly following a very sombre moment where Lama was almost disqualified in the same game for accidentally striking the net judge with a ball hit in frustration.
It certainly proved a far cry from the game’s initial exchanges that saw Lama break King early for a swift 2-0 lead in the first set. Lama never won another game in that set though, with the hometown favourite rattling off six games in succession, including three breaks of the Chilean’s serve.
The man that started off blasting forehand winners from all corners just never adjusted to King sneaking in behind every deep ball played to his backhand.
It didn’t help that Lama started to hit his favoured forehand long, which led directly to the only break of the second set that King won 6-4. His serve wasn’t all that was broken either, not after Lama reacted to the two-set deficit by smashing his racquet in the ground.
At that time though, King started to show clear signs of distress, favouring his back after contesting eight sets over the previous two days of action.
But the crowd just wouldn’t let him fade, using chants and cheers to carry their hobbled star who responded by breaking Lama with a deft backhand volley before staving off three break points to hold for a 4-2 lead.
And he wasn’t done yet, firing four straight un-returnable serves to hold for a 5-3 and then breaking Lama at love to close out the gritty win.
Later, Jorge Aguilar downed Lewis 6-1, 6-2 to give the one-time South American powers a more respectable 3-2 scoreline at the end of the tie. Barbados will start their rubber against El Salvador on April 4 at the same venue.
