JAMAICA defeated The Bahamas 2- 0 in the semi-finals of the 2021 Americas Zone Group Three Men’s Davis Cup Tennis Championship tie, to advance to Group Two of the competition next year at Centro de Alto Rendimiento Fred Maduro Clay Court in Panama City, Panama, on Saturday.

Joining the Jamaicans to next year’s Group Two were top seed Guatemala, who also registered a 2-0 win over Costa Rica in their semi-final encounter.

In the round robin encounters Jamaica topped Pool ‘C’, The Bahamas won Pool ‘A’, Costa Rica won Pool ‘B’, while Guatemala was the best second-place team.

It was a good win for Jamaica, especially in the second match where Blaise Bicknell registered a hard-fought three-set win, coming from a set down in a match that lasted for two hours and 15 minutes.

Rowland Phillips, ranked 1369th in singles in the world, had easily won the first match against Kevin Major 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes to give Jamaica a 1-0 lead.

Bicknell was off in his match, especially in the first set, as he lost 2-6. The Jamaican was down 0-2 in the second set but he gradually got into his stride and played himself back in contention in the set before winning 6-3. He would then win the third set 6-4 to give Jamaica an unbeatable 2-0 lead.

The players decided to cancel the doubles match as Jamaica had already won the tie 2-0.

— Gerald Reid