After a hugely memorable weekend for Irish tennis in early February where Ireland faced Austria in the World Group I playoffs in front of a sold out crowd in Limerick, the draw was made in London recently for Davis Cup World Group II where Ireland have drawn Tunisia, away, in September.
Tunisia are currently ranked 58, just 9 places behind Ireland, though they have experienced and ranked players in Skander Mansouri (397 singles and 102 doubles), Aziz Dougaz (220 singles) and Moez Echargui (292 singles) who could all feature on the team in September.
“Our recent Davis Cup tie against Austria was the best weekend Irish tennis has had in many years,” said Ireland Captain Conor Niland.
“As a team we will continue to build on these experiences and look forward to our next tie in Tunisia in September, which, as ever, will be a tough challenge but one we look forward to meeting together.”
Ireland played a highly competitive and exciting Davis Cup tie against Austria on 3rd and 4th February, against an Austrian team that included former world no.3 Dominic Thiem and Sebastian Ofner, currently ranked no.38.
Michael Agwi opening the first match against Thiem with an ace and following on with 3 set points in the first set, but ultimately lost 7-6, 6-3. Osgar O’hOisin’s match against Sebastian Ofner followed, again showing great skill and determination against Austria’s No.1 player but losing 6-4, 6-4 in a close battle.
In the doubles Conor Gannon and David O’Hare lost the opening set against Austria’s top ranked doubles pair Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler. However the Irish pair fought back brilliantly in the second set, thrilling the crowd with a close tiebreak finish 7-5, and eventually losing to the Austrians (6-1, 7-6).
The atmosphere over the weekend at the UL Sport Arena could only be described as electric which was all down to the thrilling matches and the fantastic, enthusiastic Irish fans that filled the world-class arena over the two days.
“Our packed out Davis Cup tie in Limerick demonstrated a huge appetite for top class tennis in Ireland,” said Tennis Ireland CEO Kevin Quinn.
“Now we can look forward to another tough and exciting challenge away to Tunisia in September and I’ve no doubt there will be significant interest in seeing how the team performs. As before we can expect the team and coaches to give everything in rising to the occasion and delivering another highly competitive Davis Cup performance.”
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