Bermuda endured a tough day at the office during yesterday’s opening day of the 2014 Junior Davis Cup pre-qualifying tournament in the Dominican Republic.

The Island’s team of Tanner Boyle, Nicholas Lines and Dylan Powell suffered a 3-0 whitewash against Aruba, the tournament favourites, at the refurbished National Sports Park in Santo Domingo.

Boyle, Bermuda’s No?2 in the under-16 age group, lost to Kyle Frankel 6-1, 6-1 in a match lasting little more than an hour in the opening singles match.

Aruba then clinched the best-of-three series after Lines, playing in the No?1 slot, lost 6-1, 6-1 to Patrick Sydow.

Lines’s opponent is reported to have played in the finals of the well-renowned Orange Bowl junior tournaments in the United States, reaching the boys’ 12-and-under final two years ago.

Bermuda’s opponents, who were ranked fourth heading into the tournament, then completed the sweep after Lines and Powell went down 6-1, 6-0 against Sydow and Frankel in a doubles match that lasted a mere 47 minutes.

The young Bermudians will undoubtedly look to recover today when they face fifth-ranked El Salvador in Santo Domingo. The signs are ominous, though, as the Salvadoreans opened with a 3-0 win over Jamaica.

Boyle will again feature in the opening singles contest, with Lines up next in the pivotal second singles.

Other tournament favourites include Guatemala, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico.

A total of 15 countries are being represented in the competition, which consists of three groups of four teams and one group of three.

At the conclusion of the round robin phase, the top two countries in each group will advance to the main draw and compete for positions one to eight. The remaining seven countries will compete for positions nine to 15.

The top country in the main draw will progress to the final qualifying event to be held in Montreal, from May 8 to 10, where they will join teams from Mexico, United States and Canada.