It was an inauspicious day for Sri Lanka tennis as the team lost an important tie against Malaysia 1-2 at the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group-3 tie played at the SLTA Courts in Green Path, Colombo yesterday.
With this loss Sri Lanka will now be demoted to group IV next year.
Sri Lanka started their campaign to avoid relegation by winning the first singles match against Malaysia.
Thehan Wijemanne came out for the first singles match and won in straight sets 6/3, 6/3. However, it could have been better if not for Wijemanne making too many unforced errors and losing points needlessly on the way to a nerve wrecking win.
The second single played by Chathurya Nilaweera saw him being overwhelmed in two sets 7/5, 6/0.
The doubles too saw Sri Lanka lose in straight sets in a very closely contested match.
The home side finished last in Pool ‘A’ having earlier lost to Saudi Arabia (0-2) and Vietnam (0-2) and they had to beat Malaysia to stay in Group III of next year’s competition. (TBR)