As the first day of the Davis Cup kicked off at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts, Sri Lanka faced off against Jordan with the day ending in favour of Sri Lanka, winning 2 out of the 3 matches.
The first game was the singles between Harshana Goddamanna from Sri Lanka and Seif Adas from Jordan. The first set started off well for Sri Lanka, winning the first game and taking the lead in the set as they were leading 5 games to 2 triumphing over Jordan, amidst the long rallies seen in the 3rd and 4th games. Jordan took a win against Sri Lanka winning the 8th game in the set closing the gap to 5 matches to 3 but Sri Lanka won the crucial 9th game without too much trouble except for a couple faults. Sri Lanka won the first set of the first singles for the day. (6-3)
Coming into the second set, Jordan had a strong start winning the first game and Sri Lanka took over from there stopping them in their tracks and dominated the game after the 3rd game. Although there were many unforced errors on the side of Sri Lanka they managed to win the second set (6-2) as well giving Sri Lanka victory of the first singles.
The second singles for the day was between Sharmal Dissanayake from Sri Lanka and Mousa Alkotop from Jordan. As the game started it was clear that the Jordanian had a very strong serve taking the first game of the set with ease. Although it wasn’t for too long as Sri Lanka got into the groove of the game and started to retaliate winning a couple games of their own. The first set saw a lot of tough games with many games going to deuces with the advantage going back and forth from either player. Sri Lanka won the first set of the match 6-2 winning the final game after a long stretch of rallies.
The second set of the second singles was no different as Jordan gave a good fight. Sri Lanka had the lead from the start winning a couple matches from a few well-placed shots and drop shots. Although by the 6th game the pressure was high on both players as the points were tied 3 games to 3.
This continued up until the 9th game with where the points were tied due to a few tough games that involved many deuces. By the end of the set, it was Sri Lanka who took the win 7 games to 5 although Jordan did give a very tough fight throughout the game.
The final match of the day was the doubles between the Sri Lankans Sharmal Dissanayake and Harshana Goddamanna against the Jordanians Hamzeh Al-Aswad and Mousa Alkotop. The first set started off with Sri Lanka playing a good aggressive game with good shots near the net. By the 7th game of the set it was very close as Jordan was leading 5 games to 4 but unfortunately, Sri Lanka failed to win the next game which was the decider and lost to Jordan 6-4.
The second set of the doubles was going in favour of the Sri Lankan team where Sri Lanka was dominating and had the lead until the 5th game, however, Sharmal Dissanayake had an injury and began to slow down and miss shots. After a small medical time out Sri Lanka came back to the game lacking emphasis and the ability to respond to the Jordanian shots.
This was the opportunity for Jordan to take back control of the game and win the doubles. On the 10th game of the set where both teams were tied 5 games to 5 Sri Lanka forfeited and gave the win to Jordan due to Sharmal Dissanayake’s inability to play any longer due to his injury.
The first day of the Davis cup ended in favour of Sri Lanka as they triumphed over Jordan winning 2 of the 3 matches during the day. Stay tuned to ThePapare.com for more news on the Davis cup or head on over to the SLTA courts to catch the live action as it continues tomorrow.
