South Africa claimed its first victory on Monday at the inaugural ATP Cup following a 3-0 win against Chile at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Australia.
Lloyd Harris and Kevin Anderson both secured straight sets wins over Nicolas Jarry and Cristian Garin respectively. Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse defeated Jarry and Garin in three sets in their doubles match.
Kevin Anderson, a former top 10 ranked player, continued his impressive comeback from a knee injury with a 6-0, 6-3 demolition of Garin, who is ranked 33rd in the world. Anderson is 147th in the world after missing nearly six months of action since July last year.
Anderson served 11 aces, did not hit any double faults and won 80 percent of his service points in a match that lasted one hour 12 minutes.
The win was Anderson’s first of 2020 and first since his return from injury. The two-time Grand Slam champion had lost a closely fought match 7-6, 7-6 to world number two Novak Djokovic in his first game.
“Got off to a really good start and I feel like a lot of things we have been working on, I was able to implement them. Great that I was able to play a good match, and with Lloyd playing well as well, get our first win for our team,” Anderson said after the match.
South Africa’s win meant Serbia advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament. South Africa, who are in second place, will play France in their final Group A match on Wednesday.
The six group winners all qualify for the Final Eight, together with the two second-placed teams with the best group-stage records.
