TENNIS DAVIS CUP:IRELAND'S DAVIS Cup success against Luxembourg could hinge on today's doubles match in Riverview after last night's first two singles left the teams level at 1-1.
The Ireland number one, Conor Niland, made short work of Mike Vermeer over three brief sets, while Barry King threatened an upset at the beginning of his match against the 91-ranked Gilles Muller before falling in four sets.
King, ranked at 967, had the effrontery to take the first set off the out of sorts Muller before the Luxembourg number one took control to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Niland burned the young, 1,011-ranked Vermeer 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 over one hour and 32 minutes.
Taking the captain’s role to heart, Niland was not about to allow his 18-year-old opponent the embers of a moral victory, even if Vermeer did leave school only last June for a career on the professional circuit.
In truth, the Barcelona-based teenager didn’t quite look 18 years old. With his bantamweight physique and flop of blond hair, 15 or 16 years of age would not have been an outrageous guess.
While he did fetch valiantly around the back court, where he stayed for most of the match, largely due to Niland’s strafing ground strokes, the Irish player could so easily have been more miserly with the few games he gave him.
Had his first serve not wobbled at the end of the first and second sets, the match would have been 20 minutes shorter. Still, to hold the 131-ranked Niland to account for those minor lapses would be churlish in the extreme.
“Yeah, there were not as many first serves as I would have liked,” he said. “I think maybe with the time I had off (flu) the rhythm was off. My ground strokes are so grooved now they come back, but the first serve takes a little bit more time.
“He was making me play one extra ball, but, overall, it was pretty ideal, really. It was a good start. I was very happy with my ground strokes and my general movement and also with my second serve because there were opportunities to double fault.”
Niland’s match was a must win or Ireland could have seen the weekend unravelling. However, playing the captain’s role and setting the tone was another burden on the night, one he rose to with absolute dominance and control.
The first set flashed by for Niland until serving out at 5-1 up. Three deuces and an advantage point down, he cheerfully closed it for 6-1 before rifling through the games in the second set and taking that one 6-0.
Although Vermeer rose to the challenge better in the third, there was never a sense he could come back. Niland’s one and only ace arrived in the sixth game for 5-1, the lasting image a gutsy Vermeer careering across the baseline swishing at air.
King’s opportunism and composure allowed him take full advantage of a slow start from Muller and while he lost the match he kept the visitors’ number one on court for longer than he would have liked. He also forced Muller to smash a racquet in the fourth set and if upsetting the number one was part of his brief, he delivered in spades.
Inevitably, the big-serving lefty Muller found his level and despite King’s game spirit, closed the match in four sets.
Britain, who could play Ireland in the next round, also finished their first day’s singles against Tunisia 1-1.
Davis Cup: Day One Singles– C Niland (Ireland) beat M Vermeer (Luxembourg) 6-1, 6-0, 6-2; G Muller (Luxembourg) beat B King (Ireland) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
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