Jamaica's Ryan Russell unleashes a forehand during training at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

JAMAICA'S JUNIOR Davis Cup Under-16 team turned in a fine performance to snatch third place with a 2-1 victory over El Salvador on Sunday at the Complejo Deportivo Complex in San Salvador.

The team, which comprised Brandon Burke, Adam Vaz and captain Llockett McGregor, finished behind winners Guatemala and the Dominican Republic in the 14-team Central American and Caribbean qualifying competition. They finished ahead of El Salvador, Bahamas, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Panama, Nicaragua and Bermuda.

In Sunday's singles, Burke lost 6-3, 6-3 to El Salvador's No. 1 player Cesar Escobar. Jamaica's No. 2, Vaz , levelled the tie when he stopped Moises Hernandez 6-1, 6-2. In the decisive doubles, Burke and Vaz teamed up to beat Escobar and Sebastien Moreno 6-3, 6-3. Inthe quarter-final round, the Jamaicans caused the upset of the tournament when they trounced Puerto Rico 3-0.

In that encounter, Vaz defeated Luis Cruz 6-2, 6-2 at the number two spot while Burke defeated Fernando Herrero 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles. The pair then combined to see off Herrero and Carlos Bruno 6-4, 6-2.

However, they then missed out on a spot in the final when they were blanked 3-0 by the tough Dominican team in Friday's semi-finals.

Strong performance

"It was a very strong performance by the team," said national coach and father of Brandon, Douglas Burke, yesterday.

"It's tough that only one team gets to advance but our guys finished third and that is very heartening for the future to see that sort of young talent coming up," he said of Brandon, 14, and Vaz, 15.

"Their results didn't really surprise me because they have both been at the International Tennis Academy in Florida for a few months and they have been training very hard and they were ready to go," he said.

Winning team Guatemala will now play in this year's North American regional qualifying event along with the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Another battle for Cup survival - Davis cup action starts tomorrow

Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport

FOR THE fourth straight year, Jamaica will battle to stay in Group Two of the Davis Cup Americas Zone when they meet the Netherland Antilles in a relegation tie which starts at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston tomorrow.

In the previous three campaigns, the Jamaicans dropped their opening ties but successfully managed to avoid the drop in the play-off encounters. However, the 'fight-for-survival' scenario is now starting to wear a bit thin on national coach and Davis Cup captain Douglas Burke.

"We have faced this kind of situation for the past three years - against Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico (2004), Cuba here in 2005 and Guatemala here last year and it would have been nice if we weren't in this spot again," Burke said during a squad training session at the renovated tennis complex yesterday.

"It's a tough group. You have South American teams like Uruguay and Ecuador that have a strong Davis Cup tradition and top players. It's a good group to be in but we have to fight to stay in it," he said.

"This time we are facing the Netherland Antilles and they are a strong team as well but we are ready and confident."

Burke's optimism is based on home-court advantage and the return of seasoned Cup campaigner Ryan Russell to the national fold after he took a break from the sport and missed the team's 5-0 opening tie drubbing in Uruguay in February.

Fit and ready to go

"Ryan is fit and ready to go and Damion (Johnson) is playing very well," Burke said of his singles players. "We think Ryan is match ready. It's not the ideal situation (after the break) but he has a lot of experience and he thrives in this situation, he loves it."

The left-handed 23-year-old's Cup record is superb with 20 victories in 24 singles rubbers but the Netherland Antilles' No. 1 player, Jean-Julien Rojer, also has an impressive Cup record (27 wins in 33 singles matches) and the 25-year-old from Curaao boasts a world ranking of 303.

"He's a very good player - a world-ranked ATP pro," the Cup captain said. "They (Russell and Rojer) both know each other very well. They have played against each other and with each other in Futures tournaments and are good friends and they should be comfortable competing against each other." That keenly-awaited clash will most likely take place in Sunday's reverse singles.

The official draw will be made this morning and Russell will probably be matched against another left-hander, Rasid Wink-laar, while Johnson will get the honours against Rojer in the tomorrow's other singles match. Those clashes will be preceded by the opening ceremony at 9:30. a.m.

The doubles follow on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and the reverse singles will start at that time on Sunday.

The Netherland Antilles' squad is completed by Nick van Rosberg while the Jamaican team, sponsored by Gore Developments Limited, Gatorade, Essential Water and Locker Room Sports, also includes backup singles player Eldad Campbell and Rayne Russell.