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Kocevar was never Top 300 in his carrier and he was born in 1990. He recorded just 4 challenger matches and one win, which speaks volumes of his quality.

As for his performances against Top 100 players, he has just one of those from last season in DC against Slovakia when he lost the close match to Klizan. The Slovak won the first set 6-1 back then.

Kocevar has a few matches against players ranked 101-200.
Gombos(116) – 26 46 67
Zeballos(117) – 16 26
Mayer(119) – 16 26

These are his matches against players ranked 201-300 in the last 3 years:
Menendez(217) – 26 46
Mertl(258) – 36 16
Brands(284) – 36 46
Brkić(246) – 61 26 76
Safwat(240) – 06 46
Cagnina(270) – 06 46
Mektić(217) – 26 67
Gigounon(251) – 36 62 46

Even without those stats, it is clear that we have a big distance in quality here. If we assume that the handicap at Sousa in two sets would probably be -7,5, Kocevar would cover that against players ranked 101-200 in 2-0 record, while he would covert the the potential one of -11,5 on three sets in the 1-0 against Gombos. Most importantly, these are players who are outside of Top 100, while Sousa is Top 50. That is the difference in quality.

Even against players ranked 201-300 he has only 5-3 in covering of the +7,5. That is a huge difference in quality between Mertl, Safwat, Cagnin, while he lost by 6 games to Menendez, by five to Mektic, Brands. Besides that win over Brkic, he beat just one one set against played in Top 300 in the last 3 years.

As for Sousa, he played only Sodelund when it comes to players outside Top 400, not counting Tursunov. He limited Soderlund to just 4 games and that same Soderlung limited Kocevar to just 4 games this year. Sousa played a few players who are relevant for this last season. If we focus on those outside Top 400 (Kocevar is outside Top 400 now), Sousa limited Sillanpa, who was No. 505 to just two games in DC Cup in three sets. He limited Androic to 3 games in Umah, Idmbarek to just two games in three sets, also in Davis Cup.

Overall, Sousa trashed those opponents he could have trashed in the last two years in Davis Cup. He beat Ignatic, Idmbarek and Sillanpa last season by covering the 11,5 handicap, while he lost to Gerasimov in a strange match after losing just one game in the first two sets. BUt Gerasimov was then on the verge of Top 300. He's a better player than Kccevar. This season in DC, Sousa beat even Melzer by 11 games.

If we focus on bad things here, it's Kocevar's win over Brkic. But Brkic is two levels below Sousa. After that we have Klizan and just 6 games between them but I'm not surprised with that because Klizan is always capable of getting things complicated. Sousa is much more consistent and likely to trash his opponents. When it comes to Sousa, the bad thing is his defeat to Gerasimov but that's it. He trashed 4 opponents in DC this and last season. He trashed Soderlund in a match that is very relatable to this one, and he trashed Androic last season in a relateble match. In the last two years, he is 4-0 in covering of the handicap I expect against Kocevar this against players outside of Top 400.