Ruan Roelofse to partner Dean O’ Brien in Davis Cup doubles
Pretoria, Johannesburg – South African Davis Cup captain, Earl Grainger announced Tucker Vorster and Fritz Wolmarans as his number one and number two nominated singles player at the official draw for this weekend’s Euro/Africa Group 2 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie between South Africa and Ireland. The tie will be played at the Irene Country Club in Pretoria, from 17th-19th July 2015.
Grainger also announced that doubles specialists Ruan Roelofse and Dean O’ Brien will partner for the doubles rubber to be played on Saturday.
The draw for the first round Group 2 Europe/Africa tie was made at the Irene Dairy Farm on Thursday and Fritz Wolmarans’ name was drawn for the first singles rubber by tie Referee, Wael Abbas of Egypt.
World number 497, Fritz Wolmarans, will get South Africa’s weekend campaign under way against Ireland on Friday 17th July at 09:30 after the official opening ceremony at 09h15. Wolmarans will play James McGee the Irish number one, ranked 150 in the opening rubber. This will be the second time that that the two have met with McGee winning their first meeting in 2013. “I am very excited to be starting off proceedings for my country especially against McGee, and I look forward to a tough match”, says Fritz.
The second Friday singles rubber between South African number one Tucker Vorster and Irish number two, Sam Barry, will be the first between the two players.
South African Captain Earl Grainger remains upbeat about his team’s chances this weekend and believes he has put forward the best possible team. “At the end of the day I am building a Davis Cup team for the future and I believe all these guys are our next Kevin Anderson and Raven Klaasen, and also I believe that this weekend the boys will fight, said Grainger. Grainger also added that half the work is done as the boys trust him and there has been a real sense of unity amongst them.
Ruan Roelofse and Dean O’ Brien were named by Grainger as his doubles team. “Ruan and Dean started playing three months ago and have had extremely good results on the ATP circuit. Both guys are ready to give their all for what could be an important rubber.”
Irish Captain Connor Niland named David O’Hare and James Cluskey as his doubles team to play Roelofse and O’Brien.
Niland said that he was happy with where his team is at and hopes for an exciting match come the weekend.
The playing program;
Friday singles (start 9:30 am): Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) vs James McGee (IRL) followed by Tucker Vorster (RSA) vs. Sam Barry (IRL),
Saturday doubles (start 12:00pm): Dean O Brien (RSA) and Ruan Roelofse (RSA) vs. James Cluskey (IRL) and Sam Barry (IRL).
Sunday reverse singles (09h30): Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) vs. Sam Barry (IRL) followed by Tucker Vorster (RSA) vs. James McGee (IRL).
