Accra, July 15, GNA - Georgia has taken a 1-0 lead over Ghana in the Euro-Africa Zone II Davis Cup play-off at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra on Friday.

Number one seed Irakli Labadze ranked 164 in the world disposed off Golden Rackets' Number Two seed Gunther Darkey 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in one hour, 49 seconds in their best-of-five match nearly marred by crowd violence.

It was a miss-match, totally controlled and dominated by the Georgian who thrilled the fans with some scintillating display of skills and some excellent rallies.

Gunther won the first game of the first set raising hopes of the Ghanaian fans including Mr O. B. Amoah, a Deputy Minister of Education and Sports and Mr Charles Ayeh, Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council but were soon to find out that it was a fluke. Labadze then got his acts together and won the subsequent six games of the set while Gunther could only salvaged his image with the seventh game.
The first game became particularly exciting in the forth set when the two players exhibited some 20 seconds of unstoppable rallies and good ground strokes but Labadze proved why he was among the elite tennis players in the world with an immaculate chip just over the net, as Gunther struggled to recover.
From the forth game of the first set through to the seventh game, Labadze had to rely greatly on his trademark passing shots to upstage Gunther on deuce.
Gunther stepped up his delivery at the start of the second set with a wonderful ace but quickly fizzled out as Labadze won it 6-2. Sports Council officials had to employ two Striking Force Police officers at the start of the third set when a section of the fans booed and yelled at the line judges and the chair umpire for some inconsistent decisions.
When calm was restored, Labadze won the set with a cheeky ease 6-1 to give the visitors a 1-0 lead over Ghana's Golden Rackets.
Ghana's Top seed Henry Adjei Darko, ranked 424, plays Georgia number Two seed, Chikhladze Lado (613) later in the afternoon. The winner after the three-day play-off retains its position in the Euro-Africa Zone II while the loser slips to zone III.