Harris keeps SA's Davis Cup promotion hopes alive in Ashdod

Lloyd Harris got South Africa's Davis Cup tie off to a great start in the hardcourt indoor tournament and keep their promotion hopes are still very much alive at the Rakuten World Group I playoff against Israel in Ashdod.

Harris, who is SA's number one, defeated Israel's Daniel Cukierman 6-4 6-4 in Friday's opening singles match.

Cukierman had replaced Edan Leshem before the start of the tie due to medical reasons.

With the visitors going 1-0 up, Israel came back in the second singles match, Israel's No 1 player Yshai Oliel secured a 6-2 6-3 victory over SA No 2 Ruan Roelofse to level the score at 1-1 after the first day's action.

"We had a game plan for Ruan, and it actually paid off really well at first, and he was up a break, but there was a middle part that just got away from us, and when we changed the strategy in the second set things started evening out and we just couldn't break the guy a second time," said SA captain Christo van Rensburg.

"So, I don't think it puts any more pressure on the doubles match this weekend because I think this was always the way it was going to play out unless there was an upset today."

Looking to hit back on Saturday, South Africa will be represented by Harris and Raven Klaasen, who will face Cukierman and Jonathan Erlich in the doubles fixture.

The result of the tie will then be decided in the reverse singles matches.

"The doubles is going to be a very important match because any time a team wins the doubles in a situation like this, with good doubles players on both sides, it's going to be an entertaining match," Van Rensburg said.

"So we are still confident we can win this tie and gain promotion."