PRETORIA – South African could stand a chance of earning a Davis Cup promotion if they beat Slovenia in April's Euro/Africa Group 2 round two tie at the Irene Country Club in Pretoria.
This according to Davis Cup team captain Marcos Ondruska, who added that South Africa stood a good chance of besting Slovenia in the tie – which will be played from April 7 to 9.
“This is a very important tie for us. If we win, we have a chance to play in the promotion round in September against the winner of the Norway vs Denmark tie, and that will give us a chance of moving up in the Euro/Africa Group 1 next year," he said.
"I firmly believe we have a good chance in doing so but we first have to focus on the Slovenian tie and take things one step at a time.”
South Africa and Slovenia have played each other twice and share the spoils. In April, 2012, South Africa hosted Slovenia at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex in Soweto and comfortably beat the visitors 4-1. But Slovenia got revenge in September of 2013 when they hosted South Africa on their favoured clay courts and won 4-1.
Ondruska warned that Slovenia were a team to watch.
“Even though the Slovenia prefer playing on clay, they are seeded two in the group and have two players ranked in the world’s top 200 which makes them very tricky," Ondruska said.
"We cannot underestimate Slovenia and like us they also want a shot at being promoted to Group 1 so I am expecting them to send their strongest possible team. I urge the fans to secure their tickets early as we were sold out in the tie against Estonia and the tennis on offer was world class.”