By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas men’s tennis team won the opening match of the American Zone III Davis Cup tie yesterday in Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica, holding off Antigua & Barbuda in the deciding doubles matches.

The combination of Baker Newman and Philip Major Jr teamed up to win 6-2, 6-3 over Carlton Bedminster and Jody Maginley to clinch the tie after they split their opening singles matches earlier in the day at the Costa Rica Country Club.

Major Jr got the ball rolling for the Bahamas with a 6-1, 6-3 decision over Shakir Elvin. However, Newman lost his rubber match identical scores, 6-1, 6-3, to Maginley as Antigua & Barbuda evened the score at 1-1.

“We pulled off the doubles, which was the decider. I’m happy for it,” Major Jr said. “We played a good match and we were able to stay intense throughout the whole match. This was our goal today and we were able to execute it and come out on top today.”

Newman said they rallied to win it for the Bahamas with their support.

“It was great to come out here on the first day and secure the victory,” he said. “Antigua is a good team and the number one guy is good. We came out here on the first day and pulled it off.”

Team Bahamas, captained by Marvin Rolle, will be off today. They return to action on Wednesday facing the host Costa Rica.

The Bahamas, with Justin Lunn and Donte Armbrister making up the rest of the team, will complete the round robin against the US Virgin Islands on Thursday and Puerto Rico on Friday.

The playoffs will be played on Saturday.

Last year, the Bahamas defeated Costa Rica 2-1 to join Honduras, who won 2-0 over Paraguay, to advance out of Zone III and into Zone II. But a reconfiguration of the tie saw the Bahamas returning this year to play out of Zone III again.

Members of Team Bahamas last year were Baker Newman, Philip Major Jr, Jody Turnquest and captain Marvin Rolle.