South Africa lost the Davis Cup World Group II tie 4-0 to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The matches were played at Irene Country Club in Centurion.
The sell-out crowd encouraged the South African players throughout, but South Africa could not turn the tie in its favour.
South Africa 0-2 down after day one
Both of South Africa's singles players fought hard on the first day, but both matches were lost in straight sets.
SA No. 1 Philip Henning lost 6-4, 6-4 to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Andrej Nedic.
In the second singles, SA's No. 2 Kholo Montsi lost 6-4, 7-5 to Bosnia's top-ranked Damir Dzumhur.
Montsi, who made his Davis Cup debut, drew energy from the crowd during the match. He fought back from 3-5 down in the second set to level the score at 5-5 before Dzumhur clinched the match.
Bosnia and Herzegovina maintains the advantage
South Africa had to begin the second day 0-2 down. The team made a late change to the doubles pairing, with Henning replacing Thando Longwe-Smit to play alongside Alec Beckley.
However, the South Africans lost 6-4, 6-4 to Mirza Basic and Nerman Fatic. The Bosnian pair made good use of the quick conditions on the hard court.
The result gave Bosnia and Herzegovina an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Fourth match confirms final score
Longwe-Smit then played in a singles match that could no longer change the outcome. Fatic won the match 7-6, 6-1.
Bosnia and Herzegovina thus concluded the tie with a 4-0 victory.
Henning said afterwards that the scoreline did not entirely reflect how close some of the matches were. He also praised his teammates for their effort over the two days.
Team captain Pietie Norval said Bosnia and Herzegovina was too strong on the second day. According to him, South Africa was competitive on the first day, but the visitors took over thereafter.
South Africa will now prepare for the World Group II play-off matches taking place early next year.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
