Bermuda suffered a whitewash during yesterday’s opening day of the Davis Cup Americas Zone group three tournament in Puerto Rico.

But despite finishing on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat in their best of three pool B match against the host nation, Ricky Mallory, Bermuda’s non-playing captain and coach, said that there were still positives his players could take from the experience.

Mallory was particularly impressed by the performances of Gavin Manders and David Thomas, who made a real fist of it in their singles matches.

Manders went down 6-2, 6-4 against Gabriel Flores playing in the number two spot.

“Gavin started off a bit slow and took a couple of games to get his timing and depth on his balls down,” Mallory said.

“I was impressed with his change of game plan after the first set and how he mixed his shots up being aggressive when necessary in the second set, which was very tight.

“I felt Gavin would have won that second set which he was trying hard to.”

Thomas was defeated 6-4, 6-0 by Alex Llompart, an ATP Tour World player.

“David played extremely well holding his own throughout a hard-fought match,” Mallory said.

“David played one of the finest first sets I have ever seen him play. He looked unbeatable with giant serve and huge forehand strokes.”

Thomas’s defeat clinched the series for the Puerto Ricans, who are ranked 55 places above Bermuda in the world rankings, with a game to spare.

Puerto Rico completed the sweep after disposing of Neal Towlson and Jenson Bascome, Bermuda’s most experienced Davis Cup player, 6-1, 6-3 in doubles play.

Bermuda will be looking for a change in fortunes when they face Trinidad & Tobago in their second round-robin group match today.

At stake at the tournament are two promotion spots to Americas Zone group two next year.