South Africa No 1 player Philip Henning brushed past Nigeria’s No 2 David Ekpenyong in their Davis Cup World Group II play-offs on Sunday. Photo: Barco Greeff
The South African Davis Cup team had to dig deep before securing a 3-1 win over Nigeria in their World Group II play-off at Groenkloof Tennis Stadium in Pretoria on Sunday.
The South African team, captained by Pietie Norval, went into day two tied at one-all with their west African visitors, who defied the chasm in ranking places between the teams on Saturday’s opening day.
Philip Henning, the SA team’s top-ranked player, dominated his singles match against Nigeria’s No 2 David Ekpenyong, coasting to a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory. But Nigeria’s No 1 seed Christopher Bulus stunned the home crowd with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) win over SA’s Kris van Wyk in the second singles rubber.
That set up a nervy second day for the South Africans despite skipper Norval’s confidence in his team’s ability in the doubles.
Perhaps an indication of the home team’s jitters was the decision to partner Alec Beckley with Henning in Sunday’s doubles rubber against the Nigerian pair of Abua Canice and Michael Emmanuel, instead of 18-year-old Leo Matthysen.
The plan seemed to work to perfection as the more experienced South Africans made light work of their rivals first up, winning 6-0 6-3.
But it seemed like a huge gamble when Henning again took to the court a short while later to face Bulus in the reverse singles. It looked like skipper Norval was taking no chances, and wanted his star player to settle the tie without going to the final singles match.
It did not look like Bulus had read the script, however, as he took a tight first set in the tie-break with a solid service game backed up by strong defensive and counter-attacking ability from the baseline. He was also able to change pace, throwing in the odd drop shot to keep Henning on his toes.
The Nigerian (1018) was making a mockery of the ranking system against a rival 692 places above him at 326.
Veteran Norval’s gamble was in danger of backfiring, but the top-ranked South African showed great fighting spirit to win the second set 6-4. He was finding his range with his powerful ground strokes as he moved his rival around the in the sapping Pretoria heat, driving him deeper into the court.
It was Bulus’ turn to look like tired, serving with the scores tied at 2-2 in the third set and Henning looking re-energised. The Nigerian managed to stave off a break point but sent his next shot wide to surrender the game.
When Henning held serve to love to take a 4-2 lead, Bulus looked like he was running on fumes. Yet he refused to go down without a fight. Henning had to work for the win, in the end. He took the final set 6-4.
Norval was a relieved captain, reserving special praise for Bulus. He said the plucky Nigerian played more like a top- 200 or top-300 player, not one ranked outside the top 1000.
“No one expected him to beat Kris 7-6 in the third set but he did (on Saturday),” he said in his post-match interview. “Halfway through the second set, Philip and I didn’t know what to do, to be quite honest. And thank goodness, the fighter that he was, he found a way.
“We were just hoping for Bulus to get a little bit tired and we thought maybe that was it. But what an amazing experience.”
He admitted that with the tie hanging in the balance, and Bulus refusing to lie down, Van Wyk began warming up in anticipation of a nerve-racking decider.
“I think Philip played as good as he could but Bulus brought it, so well played to him, but thank goodness we didn’t have to go into that last one.”
South Africa will now play in World Group II, with a chance to advance to World Group I, which boasts some top tennis-playing nations.