Alec Beckley and Philip Henning delivered spectacular performances on Sunday as Renault South Africa clawed their way back from 2-1 down to beat Montenegro 3-2 in the Davis Cup World Group II playoff at Irene Country Club in Centurion.
Victory for South Africa! 🙌
— Tennis South Africa (@TennisSA) February 8, 2026
The @Renault_SA South Africa Team 🇿🇦 battled it out against Montenegro 🇲🇪 and came through with a thrilling 3–2 win to take the Davis Cup World Group II Playoffs tie.
From clutch singles performances to ice-cold nerves under pressure, Team SA showed… pic.twitter.com/y7EsbydXvR
Entering the second day of the tie, the SA team were level at 1-1 with the visitors, and Montenegro took the lead with a stunning victory in the doubles match.
The @Renault_SA South Africa Team 🇿🇦 were back on court in the doubles rubber against Montenegro 🇲🇪, with Philip Henning & Thando Longwe Smit facing Petar Jovanović & Aleksa Krivokapić.
— Tennis South Africa (@TennisSA) February 8, 2026
Despite a strong effort, the SA duo went down 6–2, 7–6(3), as Montenegro move ahead 2–1 in… pic.twitter.com/46SJPFtklU
In an attempt to ensure they were at their best in the doubles rubber, SA captain Pietie Norval made a late change to the home team's pairing, with Henning joining Thando Longwe-Smit in a battle against Petar Jovanovic and Aleksa Krivokapic.
Despite the change, South Africa stumbled as Montenegro earned a 6-2 7-6 win to put the hosts under pressure.
Henning then levelled the scores again as the SA No 1 won his second match of the tie in the reverse singles, cruising to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Jovanovic.
South Africa levels the tie!
— Tennis South Africa (@TennisSA) February 8, 2026
🇿🇦 No.1 Philip Henning defeats 🇲🇪 No.1 Petar Jovanović 6–3, 6–2 in the third singles rubber.
Henning’s win brings the tie to 2–2, setting up a winner-takes-all finale.
DECIDER UP NEXT
🇿🇦 No.2 Alec Beckley vs 🇲🇪 No.2 Aleksa Krivokapić
One match.… pic.twitter.com/57RXfUjZ7Y
In the final rubber of the tie, Beckley looked to be up against a wall in his reverse singles match against Krivokapic.
Beckley dug deep, however, fighting back from 5-2 down in the first set to wrap up a 7-6 6-3 win in a remarkable comeback performance that had the crowd at Irene Country Club on its feet.
REMARKABLE EFFORT
Henning admitted that he and Longwe-Smit had been outplayed by Montenegro in the doubles rubber.
"I knew it was going to be tough. Both their players are pretty big servers and in doubles that's key, and they came out pretty hot, so you've got to give it to them. They played great doubles today," he said.
"In the second set we were hanging in there, and there were definitely a couple of things we could have done better, but that happens."
Henning was nonetheless pleased that he and Beckley were able to pull things back to carry their team to a hard-fought victory.
"I feel I played pretty well in my singles match and I was happy to get us back into contention, and I couldn't be more proud of Alec, coming back the way he did. He played super well."
Beckley was swamped by his teammates on court after producing a remarkable effort to ensure South Africa retained their place in World Group II of the international men's team competition.
Having been disappointed with himself after losing his singles match against Jovanovic the day before, Beckley was relieved to deliver a result that was the highlight of a closely contested tie.
"Yesterday was tough for me (losing to Jovanovic) and I knew once I started thinking about the score at 5-2 I would just spiral, so I was trying not to overthink it and just trying to find my rhythm, get loose and go after it more," he said.
"And eventually I found the break at 5-3, and I managed to loosen up more. I just kept telling myself to stay in the moment, and with every point just go. I didn't want to lose focus and I just fought as hard as I could."
Norval said he was proud of his team for maintaining their composure under pressure and showing tremendous resilience to triumph in front of a lively home crowd.
"We had to dig deep to win this tie, and there were times when they were better than us, and it was tough, so coming through it is huge, not just for us as a team but for the country going forward.
"We're glad that we stay in our group and have an opportunity to keep chasing our long-term goal (to climb into the top-tier World Group)... and the more we can pull out tough wins like this the better it is for the game of tennis in South Africa, so we're very proud of that."