Belarus defeat Ireland 4-1

Belarus defeated Ireland 4-1 in the first round of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Group II tie which took place at the Olympic Tennis Centre in Minsk this weekend.

Belarus ended Fridays play with a 2-0 lead over Ireland after Dzmitry Zhrymont defeated Daniel Glancy 62 64 62 in the first rubber of the day.

That was followed by another straight sets win for Belarus when Egor Gerasimov defeated Davis Cup debutant John Morrissey 64 61 62 in Fridays second rubber.

On Saturday afternoon, 23 year old David O’Hare, playing in his first ever Davis Cup rubber for Ireland teamed up with doubles specialist James Cluskey to face the  experienced duo of Alexander Bury & Max Mirnyi (WR Doubles 26). The duo stormed into a two sets to one lead and had a match point when leading 6-5 in the fourth set tie-break. Unfortunately, for the Irish team the Belarusian pair leveled the at two sets all before taking the rubber and the tie on a 67(3) 76(6) 57 76(8) 62 scoreline.

In Sundays reverse singles dead rubbers, Egor Gerasimov defeated Daniel Glancy 63 63 and John Morrissey was given a walkover in the final rubber by Dzmitry Zhrymont. 

With the Irish Captain missing three of his top players for the tie in Minsk, Garry Cahill was delighted with the performance of the doubles pairing of James Cluskey and David OHare who had match point in the fourth set on Saturday afternoon.

The BNP Paribas Irish Davis Cup team now face a home relegation play-off in April (4th-6th) against Egypt after Moldova defeated Egypt 4-1 in Chisinau. The venue for that tie will be announced shortly.