The Renault South Africa team put up a fight on Saturday, winning the first match before being edged in the second, and they were level at 1-1 against Montenegro after the opening day of the Davis Cup World Group II playoff at Irene Country Club in Centurion.
Day 1 concludes in the tie between @Renault_SA South Africa team 🇿🇦 and Montenegro 🇲🇪 1-1
— Tennis South Africa (@TennisSA) February 7, 2026
🇿🇦 Alec Beckley took on Montenegro’s Petar Jovanović in the second singles rubber to close out the day.
Beckley fought hard but went down 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Who will come out on top on day 2?… pic.twitter.com/L8Ga2oBeTX
In the first singles match of the tie, SA No 1 Philip Henning had no real trouble, coasting to a convincing victory over Montenegro No 2 Aleksa Krivokapic.
While Krivokapic put up some resistance in the early stages of the rubber, Henning ultimately took control, racking up a 6-4 6-2 win to give the SA team a 1-0 lead.
"It's always nice getting a win under the belt. I'm getting used to the conditions. Even though we've been playing on this court the whole week, a match is completely different," Henning said.
"I felt like I played pretty solid tennis today. I served well and I felt good... so it was a good battle from our side and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
In the second match, SA No 2 Alec Beckley dug deep in hot conditions, clawing his way back in the second set against Montenegro No 1 Petar Jovanovic.
Beckley eventually succumbed, however, with Jovanovic pulling things back to pick up a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory.
"I was fine physically. It was a long match and in the first set I struggled a bit, but I found my rhythm," Beckley said.
"I had chances in the third set but in the break points he (Jovanovic) served well and I could have done one or two things differently.
"I let it slip in one game, and that cost me, and then he got new balls to serve it out. So obviously I'm very disappointed about the result, but we will regroup and go after them tomorrow."
Renault SA captain Pietie Norval had selected Thando Longwe-Smit and Kris van Wyk earlier this week for the doubles match to be played on Sunday morning.
He had hoped, however, that they would go into day two leading 2-0, and with the scores now level, the skipper said they would need to reassess their doubles combination to face Krivokapic and Jovanovic.
But there were multiple things that needed to be taken into account from a strategic perspective, and Norval said they would sit down as a squad to decide whether Van Wyk, Henning or Beckley would turn out with Longwe-Smit (their first-choice doubles player) as they looked to regain the advantage ahead of the reverse singles to be played later on Sunday.
"We're going to get together as a team and relook at what we want to do," said Norval, who had until one hour before the doubles match to confirm the final duo.
"We wanted to be 2-0 ahead which would make it easier, but we're not, so the doubles becomes almost decisive because at 1-1 it's important to try get ahead again, which basically means you need to possibly play your absolute best doubles team.
"But with the format the way it is, if Philip (Henning) plays doubles, for example, then he's got to walk straight back out to play singles afterwards, so we've got to consider that. We actually have quite a few options and it's got to be about getting it right."
The second and final day of the Davis Cup World Group II playoff between Renault South Africa and Montenegro will be broadcast live on SABC 3.
Play will start at 10am with the doubles fixture, which will be followed by the reverse singles matches.