The Junior Davis Cup Asia-Oceania was held in Nonthaburi, Thailand 8thto 13thApril, 2019. Teams from 16 countries took part in this week-long event. Syria finished in the top four alongside Australia, Japan and Hong Kong and will be representing the nation in the Junior Davis Cup Finals scheduled to be held in Nona, USA.
It has been quite a journey for Syria which started at JDC Asia-Oceania pre-Qualifying event in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They were able to secure one of the two berths for the final-Qualifying in Thailand after beating Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and host Sri Lanka. With this, Syria qualifies for an ITF Junior Team Competition event for the first time at any level.
A 3-0 loss to Japan followed, but a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan sent Syria through to the quarterfinals against hosts Thailand. With the four semifinalists guaranteed to reach the 16-team Junior Davis Cup Finals, they were one tie away from history, a couple of match wins away from giving the war-torn nation a positive news story.
Alazmeh set the tone in the first match, beating Tanapatt Nirundorn 7-6(5) 7-5. Djaroueh was beaten 6-3 6-1 by Guntinun Sootinun Opart but partnered Alazmeh to wrap up victory against the Thai duo 6-2 6-2 to seal victory.
The glory run ended in the semifinals with defeat against Hong Kong before a second loss to Japan ensured they finished fourth, but the Syrian side were all smiles regardless, having booked their place in September’s Finals – and made their country proud
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