Ireland defeat El Salvador to secure Davis Cup playoff place

Ireland defeated El Salvador 4-1 in Sonsonate over the weekend to book their place in the Davis Cup World Group 1 playoffs in February 2024.

The visiting Irish got off to a solid start on Saturday as Conor Gannon beat Cesar Cruz on his debut, winning 6-1 6-0, before Osgar O’hOisin was beaten in straight sets against the 2022 French Open doubles champion Marcelo Arevalo.

O'hOisin started strong and had set point at 5-4, however, it went to a tiebreak where Arevalo won 7-6 (7-5) to take the first set. The home player comfortably led the second set and eventually took the match 7-6 6-1.

On Sunday, the doubles match started first with David O’Hare and Conor Gannon facing Arevalo and his partner Lluis Miralles. In a tight opening few games, Ireland started well and got an early break, building momentum with each game and secured the first set 6-2.

O'Hare and Gannon continued to impress in the second set and eventually served out for the match, winning 6-2 6-3, to hand Ireland an overall 2-1 lead in the tie.

Diego Duran faced O’hOisin in the fourth match, and while the El Salvador player started strong, the Irish man found his rhythm and took the first set 6-3 before sealing the match 6-3 6-3 to secure the victory for Ireland.

Both captains agreed on playing the fifth match where Freddy Murray made his debut for Ireland after Simon Carr and Michael Agwi withdrew from the team late last week due to injury.

Murray took on Jose Flores and enjoyed a comprehensive 6-0 6-0 win in what was a very promising debut to seal the tie 4-1 to Ireland.

The draw for the Group 1 playoffs takes place on Wednesday, 20 September.