Jensen Bascome and Neal Towlson were the toast of the dressing room after cementing Bermuda’s second victory at the Davis Cup Americas Zone group three tournament in Puerto Rico yesterday.

The pair defeated Jamaica’s Dominic Pagon and Brendan Burke 6-1, 6-2 in the deciding doubles match at the Palmas Athletic Club to earn Bermuda a 2-1 series win in their final group B round-robin match.

“It came down to the rubber match with Jensen and Neal and they knew the pressure was on them,” Ricky Mallory, Bermuda’s non-playing captain and coach, said. “I felt they were a perfect pair with Neal’s speed and power alongside Jensen’s experience and finesse. They started strong and never faltered.”

The series victory was Bermuda’s second of the tournament and second overall at this level.

“I am over the moon with my players,” Mallory added. “I asked them to go out there and leave some of their skin on the court and they did just that and more. Today was no guts, no glory attitude and indeed a great day for Bermuda tennis.”

Gavin Manders, playing once again in the No?2 slot, gave Bermuda the early momentum after dispatching Daniel Harris 7-5, 6-0 in the opening singles match.

“Gavin had a tough first set but raised his level and intensity in the second which his opponent could not match,” Mallory said.

Manders’s second singles win of the tournament put Bermuda on match point. But any thoughts of clinching the tie with a match to spare were dashed after David Thomas, playing in the No?1 slot, went down against Pagon 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 in a match spanning nearly three hours.

“David had a battle that was out of this world,” Mallory said. “He dug down as deep as he could possibly go, only to come up on the losing end.

“David’s performance brought tears to my eyes; I have never seen him fight so hard.”

Bermuda’s other series victory arrived against Trinidad & Tobago earlier in the week, allowing them to finish third in the group behind hosts Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, who advanced to today’s promotional play-offs along with Cuba and Bahamas from group A.

Having failed in their bid for promotion to group two for next year, Bermuda will be aiming to end their campaign on a winning note when they face Honduras today in a fifth-place play-off.

“I am not disappointed because the team has played and performed at their highest,” Mallory said. “We went into this tournament as the underdogs and lowest-ranked team and now we are a team that nobody can take lightly.

“To continue our progression in the Davis Cup, we will start preparing as soon as we return home from this competition. And, who knows, we might just get promoted to Americas Zone group two.”