Israel’s Shahar Perkis was defeated by the Soviet Union’s Alexander Zverev in the final and deciding singles match yesterday of the Davis Cup European Zone A finals in Donetz, the Ukraine, to bring to an end Israel’s bid to move into the world finals of the Davis Cup tournament.
Perkis’ match against Zverev, the Soviet team captain, was halted Monday night because of darkness, with the player’s evenly split at one game apiece and tied in the third set at 6-all. But on Tuesday, when play resumed, Zverev overcame Perkis and won by a final score of 2-6, 7-5, 10-8, 6-4.
Israel went into Monday’s competition leading the Soviets in the best of five series two games to one after Israel’s Shlomo Glickstein teamed with Perkis to beat Vadim Borisov and Leonid Leoniuk 2-6, 9-11, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, in a gruelling four hour doubles match.
On Monday, with Israel leading 2-1, Glickstein was defeated in a singles match by 17-year-old Andrei Chernokov, 6-0, 7-9, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. Chesnokov is ranked no. 4 in the Soviet Union and is the Soviet junior champion. He defeated Perkis in an earlier match.
The defeat for the Israelis reverts them to the European Zone in the Davis Cup while the Soviet squad will move on into the premier division of the top 16 international competitors in the finals of the Davis Cup events next year.
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