By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia,net

IT wasn’t the type of start that the Bahamas men’s national team expected at the Davis Cup Americas Zone III tie on Monday.

As the top seed playing out of pool A at the Palmas Athletic Club in Humacao, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas faced Cuba in the first of three matches in the round robin segment of the week-long tournament.

Playing/captain Marvin Rolle gave the starting nod to Kevin Major, who got the ball rolling against William Dorantes Sanchez. Major, however, went to the limit before he lost to Sanchez 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.

That put in the Bahamas down 0-1 in the best-of-three series in the match.

Veteran Devin Mullings, the top seeded player, took care of business as he normally do, winning the second singles match in straight sets over Ernesto Alfonso Fundora. The precise scores were not available.

With his victory, the Bahamas pulled even at 1-1.

But in the pivotal doubles to determine the winner, the team of Rolle and Jamal Adderley fell short to the Cuban team of Alfonso and Randy Blanco. The Cubans prevailed with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 decision.

That sealed the deal as the Cubans posted the win.

The Bahamas still have two more matches in the round robin against Panama and Honduras to determine whether or not they will have a chance to advance to the playoffs for a bid to get promoted to Zone II in 2015.

The winner of pool A will play off against the runner-up of pool B and the winner of pool B will face the runner-up of pool B. The two winners will be promoted to the Americas Zone Group.

The Bahamas is trying to regain its prominence in the top country tournament, having played in the World Group against the United States in 1993 in North Carolina. The American team was led by Andre Agassi. Mark Knowles and Roger Smith were the top Bahamian players then.

At the last tie in 2013 in Bolivia, the Bahamas finished tied for third with Costa Rica after losing 0-2 to Paraguay in the Americas Group III play-offs.

Since the departure of Knowles and Smith, the Bahamas has been on a downward swing, trying to climb back from the bottom to the top. Munnings and Rolle took over after the departure of Knowles and Smith.

As the leader of the pack, 30-year-old Rolle has played Davis Cup for the Bahamas since 2001. During that time, he has participated in 34 ties, compiling a 14-15 win-loss record in singles and 10-14 in doubles. He is the son of legendary ‘ageless wonder” Leo Rolle, a long time member of the Davis Brandon team.

At age 28, Mulling has been the perennial top ranked player taking over the spotlight from retired Mark Knowles and Roger Smith. Mullings, 28, has registered participation in 30 ties, having produced a 20-15 record in singles and 5-7 in doubles as a southpaw player from Grand Bahama.

Also a product of Grand Bahama, Adderley had only played Davis Cup since 2011. The 25-year-old has played in nine ties and spots a 1-0 mark in singles and 8-1 in doubles.

And as the youngest member of the team at 19, Major is going to be playing in just his second tie since making his debut a year ago. The former junior national champion has played in four ties with a 1-3 record in singles. He has not seen any doubles matches yet.

None of the Bahamian players, who earned their positions on the team by virtue of their performances in the December Invitational at the National Tennis Center, are ranked on the ATP computer list, nor do they accumulated any computer points.