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Bahamas knocks off Haiti

The fight to get back to regional dominance in the Davis Cup started on Wednesday for The Bahamas, who were recently relegated to the Americas Zone Group III.

What may seem to be a challenging process, especially since The Bahamas once played in Zone I, could actually be a 'cake walk' for The Bahamas. The Davis Cup Tie will be contested by the quintet of Marvin Rolle, Devin Mullings, Bjorn (BJ) Munroe, Christopher Eldon and H'Cone Thompson, on the outdoor hard courts of the Guatemala National Tennis Center, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. On Wednesday, The Bahamas recorded its first tournament win over Haiti, thanks to Rolle, who defeated Haiti's Jean Marc Bazanne with a score of 6-1 and 6-3, and Devin Mullings, who served up a win in his match against Gael Gaetjens, 6-4 and 6-1.

In the doubles match-up, the team of Marvin Rolle and BJ Munroe followed in their teammates' footsteps by turning back the Haitian duo of Joel Allen and Jean Marc Bazanne, 6-4 and 6-3.

The win became great news for The Bahamas, but for local tennis enthusiasts who've been following the team at this competition, a first win is just a mirror image of last year's start.

Last year, The Bahamas started out strong by defeating Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago, in its first two match-ups, but fell hard in the other matches. The team, which also included Ryan Sweeting, who is now playing under the American flag, were poised for a pool victory but failed to win the remaining three against Honduras, El Salvador and Cuba. This triple defeat resulted in the Bahamas placing third in its grouping and ultimately, failing to be promoted to the Americas Zone II.

However, this year offers a second chance for success as they enter the Cup with eyes focused on advancing to America Zone Group II. Being one of the top ranked countries in this grouping also brings confidence.

The Bahamas is playing in Pool A. Also in this pool are host country Guatemala, and Barbados. In Pool B are Panama, Costa Rico and Bolivia. Also landing wins on the opening day of competition were Guatemala defeating Barbados, Bolivia turning back Costa Rico and Puerto Rico getting the better of Panama.

If The Bahamas is hoping to clinch an automatic ticket into America Zone II, they will have to finish as one of the top two teams in their pool, to move into another round-robin group. If they are successful in this round-robin, they will then be promoted to America Zone II for competition next year

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For our first match in Davis Cup in Americas Zone Group III, on June 20th, Haiti was defeated 3-0 by Bahamas in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

R1 - M.ROLLE (BAH) def. J.BAZANNE (HAI)

6-1 6-3

R2 - D.MULLINGS (BAH) def. G.GAETJENS (HAI)

6-4 6-1

R3 - B.MUNROE / M.ROLLE (BAH) def. J.ALLEN / J.BAZANNE (HAI)

6-4 6-3

Haiti's team : GAETJENS, BAZANNE, ALLEN, BARTES and the team captain Iphton LOUIS.

Bahamas'team : MULLINGS, ROLLE, MUNROE, THOMPSON and the team captain John FARRINGTON.