Ireland comfortably retain their standing

Ireland's Davis Cup captain Peter Wright saluted his players after they easily retained their place in Group Two of the Euro-African Zone for 2002 following a 4-1 victory over Monaco in the weekend's relegation tie in Monte Carlo.

That win, added to Friday's two singles victories - when John Doran beat Monacan number one Bosio (6-3, 7-5, 6-2) and Barron overcame Heussner (4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3) - made both of yesterday's reverse-singles dead rubbers.

Peter Clarke won the first of the matches, beating Bosio in three sets, but Doran's straight-sets defeat by Heussner meant the hosts avoided a whitewash and a complete reversal of their 5-0 win over Ireland at the Riverview club two years ago.

"It is a very pleasing result and a hard fought one too," said Wright. "John Doran started us off brilliantly by beating their number one on Friday but Scott's five-set win in the second match was probably the most compelling performance. He came back in a very difficult situation when he was so close to defeat and that, really, set up the tie for us."

Barron was forced to dig deep when Heussner served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set before the Dubliner won a tie-breaker to level at two sets all. In the deciding set Barron dropped just four points in four service games, taking the set 6-3 to put Ireland 2-0 up in the tie.

Barron then partnered Casey in Saturday's doubles victory when the pair survived a third-set hic-cup to close out the match in four sets and secure Ireland's place in next season's Group Two.

"The feeling is one of enormous relief but we know expectations for next year will be higher, that we can go up a division rather than battle to remain where we are," said Wright.

"We're delighted, though, because it was a tie we were very nervous about - we knew playing on their home court would be a big challenge. We came down a couple of days early just to prepare for the clay and the extra preparation paid off. A superb team performance."