Tennis Davis CupConvincing does not even begin to describe the dominance asserted by the Sorensen brothers, Kevin and Louk, as Ireland crushed Nigeria in the Davis Cup Euro-African opening series of round-robin ties at Fitzwilliam yesterday.
There may have been high jinks on an outside court as the highly-ranked Armenian Sargis Sargsian (107 in the world) got into deep trouble and was beaten in a final set by a scarcely-ranked Icelandic player in Arnar Sigurdsson. However, from an Irish viewpoint nothing could detract from the virtuoso performances by the Sorensens.
Louk, a 20-year-old at the foothills of what appears a promising career, played almost every shot in the book to overwhelm Abdul Babalola in less than 50 minutes, 6-0, 6-1.
The visitor arrived at the venue only 24 hours earlier, leaving little time for practice on the artificial grass courts which were virtually new to him and not to his liking.
It's true the court surface was a problem for Babalola but Sorensen's fluency presented him with a much greater problem and despair soon became the visitor's constant companion.
The younger Sorensen said he felt a little nervous at the beginning of his debut Davis Cup match but he never showed signs of unease and hit winners from all angles to pocket the first set in 20 minutes.
An attractive feature of Sorensen's play is a two-fisted backhand with both feet off the ground and his absurdly early returns repeatedly militated against his opponent's chances of holding service.Sorensen was quick to sympathise with Babalola's problems with the surface.
"I felt he was having difficulty with the court, " he said.
Kevin Sorensen, ranked 385 in the world, followed up with an equally impressive 6-3, 6-3 win over Jonathan Igbinovia, ranked 447.
Delicate flicks in between pounding forehands and authoritative serves gave Sorensen a notable advantage over an opponent who became truly frustrated after falling flat on his back mid-court in the second set.
Sorensen's placement was impeccable and his ability to come up with the big shot on the crucial point was never more apparent than in the fifth game of the second set when saving a break from love-40.
His match with Amenias Sargsian could be today's highlight.
David O'Connell and Conor Niland completed the whitewash in the doubles with a notable straight-sets victory over Igbinovia and Robinson Damisa 6-2 6-4.
DAVIS CUP - Euro African Group A: Ireland 3 Nigeria 0 (Irish names first - K Sorensen bt J Igbinovia 6-3 6-3, L Sorensen bt A Babalola 6-0 6-1, D O'Connell and C Niland bt Igbinovia and R Demisa 6-2 6-4); Armenia 2 Iceland 1 . Group B: Tunisia 3 San Marino 0, Cyprus 2 Turkey 1.
