The doubles pairing of Ricky Mallory and Donald Evans won Bermuda's first Davis Cup match of the week in Havana yesterday, but the team still went down to a 2-1 defeat against Bolivia.

And today they face a do-or-die clash with Honduras to avoid relegation from American Zone Group Three.

They will do so fired up by the morale-boosting victory of their veteran doubles team in yesterday's final rubber, which avoided ending their three group B ties without winning a match.

Mallory and Evans defeated Diego Camacho and Mario Arce 1-4, 5-4, 5-4, 4-2, in a thrilling match peppered with entertaining exchanges at the net.

Jensen Bascome and James Collieson had both lost their singles rubbers in four sets earlier in the day, sealing victory for the South Americans.

The doubles was thus rendered a dead rubber, but was still played in a fiercely competitive spirit.

Mallory's serving was virtually flawless throughout and the large number of free points he earned boosted the Bermudian pair's confidence.

Evans gave a solid display and hit a hot streak in the fourth set, ripping some spectacular returns and covering the net well with his long reach.

After losing the first set, the experience of the two 30-somethings told in second and third-set tiebreakers, which both went to the Bermudians in comfortable fashion, 7-0 and 7-2.

More smart play in the fourth set by both Mallory and Evans kept the momentum going Bermuda's way through to the finish and a leaping backhand volley from Evans clinched the fourth set 4-2 and the match.

Bascome went down to the experienced Rodrigo Navarro 4-0, 5-3, 1-4, 4-0, while Collieson suffered his third defeat of the week against fleet-footed Camacho, 4-2, 2-4, 4-0, 4-1.

Playing his first singles match this week after having impressed in the doubles on the first two days, Bascome took time to settle into his game.

And with the short-sets format, time is in short supply. By the time the 21-year-old got into his rhythm, he was two sets down.

In the windiest conditions so far of a windy week, Bascome was swept aside 4-0 in the first set.

He lost the first two games of the second set too, but then started to find his range with some fine returning and well timed net attacks and battled back to 2-2.

It went with serve to 3-4 and then baseliner Navarro broke Bascome to clinch the set 5-3.

Bascome, known for a degree of mental toughness unusual in one so young, dug deep into his energy resources to force his way back into the match. He used more slice, forcing the Bolivian to generate his own power and the pressure told as Bascome clinched the set 4-1 when Navarro served a double fault.

But the match ran away from Bascome in the fourth set as the South American rediscovered his rhythm.

Navarro took the set 4-0 and with it, the match.

Bascome said the wind had made a rhythm difficult to find and said he had been slow out of the blocks.

"I feel I took a little too long to get into it today,'' he said. "These short sets are all about momentum and if someone gets a momentum going, the set's over quick.

"In the third set I had a couple of good service games and a break, but then he got the momentum back and it was very difficult to stop.

"I was sometimes a little too tentative just after I had missed shots because of the wind, but adjusting to that will come with time.'' Collieson looked a touch weary in his match, perhaps suffering from the effects of his five-set, two-hour marathon against Jamaica's Peter Gordon on Thursday.

Had he maintained the same level of play as the previous day he might have won against Camacho.

He lost the first set 4-2, but stormed back to win the second 4-2. The Bermudian looked to have the beating of the younger Bolivian, but Collieson seemed to struggle more and more with the wind as he lost the fourth set 4-0.

Camacho clinched victory with a volley that bounced wickedly off the net cord.

In the other match in Group B, Cuba defeated Jamaica 2-1, meaning the hosts won the group, with Jamaica second, Bolivia third and Bermuda fourth.

Pre-tournament favourites Puerto Rico finished bottom of Group A after losing 2-1 to group winners El Salvador yesterday.

Trinidad and Tobago finished second after beating Bermuda's opponents today, Honduras, 2-1, leaving Honduras in third place.

Fighting spirit: Bermuda's Ricky Mallory, above, teamed up with Donald Evans and netted the Island's first win at the Davis Cup in Cuba yesterday.