Copil and Tecau put Romania in the driving seat

Marius Copil and Horia Tecau wasted little time in seeing off Nuno Borges and Joao Sousa 6-4 6-3 to give Romania a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup by Rakuten World Group I tie against Portugal.

The experienced pairing of Copil and Tecau proved too strong for Sousa and Borges, who was making his Davis Cup debut as a last-minute substitution for Gastao Elias, needing just 72 minutes to record a straight sets victory on home soil in Cluj Napoca.

'For us it was a good executed match. We took our chances and we ended up with a straight sets win with two breaks in one hour 15, that's what we wanted for Marius before his singles,' said Tecau.

Some impressive serving and quick points from the Romanian pairing saw them hold their service games with ease. The duo was also able to find some big returns on their opponents' serve and their tactic of frequently applying pressure at the net paid dividends, ensuring they broke once in each set to clinch a solid victory.

'It's easy to play with Marius. He has a big serve, the service games are quick and they are aggressive. The return games we needed to be very careful and to execute when we have mini chances, that was the difference today,' added the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion.

Copil and Sousa are both in action again in the first of the reverse singles with the Portuguese player needing to take victory to keep the tie alive.