The SAR’s top-ranked player, Coleman Wong, came out of the gate swinging in the first of the best-of-three set match-up.
Wong, ranked 173rd in the world, quickly jumped to a commanding 2-0 lead in his clash against the 452nd-ranked Sergey Fomin under sweltering conditions, much to the delight home fans in attendance.
He fell short despite mounting a spirited effort in the third game though, as Fomin earned the fifth-seeded Uzbekistan side their first game.
But it didn’t take long for Wong to regain his rhythm, producing a number of blistering serves to outlast his opponent and take the set 6-3 after 48 minutes.
It was a similar story in the second set, with Wong capitalising on an error-strewn performance by his Uzbek counterpart to win 6-2 – rounding out the contest against Fomin in one hour and 20 minutes.
Wong said that being able to bank on the energy of home crowd support had a major impact on his performance, with many primary and secondary school students turning out to watch their heroes.
“It was great, it was much better than last time,” the 21-year-old said after the match.
“I’m a little greedy, I want more… so hopefully more and more people will come tomorrow. I’ve got a lot of friends coming tomorrow, more than today – so hopefully you guys can look forward to it.”
Wong also spoke about the challenges of managing expectations prior to the Davis Cup tie, with many local fans upbeat following his historic run in New York at the US Open, which ended this month.
“It’s not really an expectation for me, or for myself,” Wong said. “I just want to play, enjoy the crowd and enjoy playing at home. So for me it’s not really a huge pressure. I’ve played a few [Davis Cup] ties and matches already here… I grew up here, so I like it.”
It was a different story in the second singles match of the day, though, as Wong Tsz-fu fell in straight sets to Khumoyun Sultanov 6-7, 3-6.
The action continues on Sunday with doubles and reverse singles matches as the SAR look to punch their ticket into February’s World Group I play-offs.
