Dominant Sri Lanka qualify to play in Group 2 of Davis Cup 2018

Sri Lanka faced Qatar in the Group 3 promotional tie of the Davis Cup played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association tennis courts earlier today. The winner of this promotional tie was to move up and qualify to play in Group 2 in 2018. After a good day of tennis for Sri Lanka, they triumphed over the Qatar team moving up to play in Group 2 next year.

The first singles match of the day was between Harshana Godamanna from Sri Lanka and Mousa Shanan Zayed from Qatar. The first set was won by the Sri Lankan player without too much difficulty getting a few quick points off aces and by dominating the break points. Harshana won the first set 6 games to 3. During the second set Harshana struggled a bit with the break points and made a few mistakes including a double fault. Although he managed to win the second set once again 6 games to 3 and got Sri Lanka a good start in the tie winning the first match of the day.

The second singles match was between Sharmal Dissanayake and Mubarak Shannan Zayid. Winning this match was crucial for Qatar if they wanted a shot at getting promoted to Group 2 thus Mubarak came on to the court with immense pressure on his shoulders. Mubarak gave a tough fight to Sharmal although he lost the first set 6 games to 4. Even though Mubarak had a couple aces in the set Sharmal dominated the break points and Mubarak made too many unforced errors losing him the first set. The second set started off well for Sharmal taking a clean 3 game win although Mubarak didn’t give up winning a couple games after he took a small medical time out. The final game kept going back and forth from deuce to advantage with both playing giving it their best but fortunately for Sri Lanka Sharmal won after a long stretch of rallies winning the set 6 games to 3.

Winning both the singles Sri Lanka had won the tie and therefore the doubles match was not played. Sri Lanka beat Qatar 2-0 in the Davis Cup 2017 and progressed to play in Group 2 next year.

Throughout the tournament, Sri Lanka remained unbeaten and took their rightful place back in Group 2 of the Davis Cup.

Harshana Godamanna shared his thoughts with ThePapare after their victory: “I’m glad we’re back in Group 2 and that we didn’t lose the promotional tie. It was definitely a good day for us winning all the matches in straight sets things can always get tricky when they go to 3 sets. We were able to remain unbeaten throughout the tournament and I think that’s a great achievement and I’m really just glad that we’re back in Group 2.”