Davis Cup: Spain and France on course, Italy has to tremble
While Spain and France did not miss a beat on day one of the Davis Cup qualifying round, Italy has to fear for promotion to the group stage of the final tournament.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 05, 2022, 09:31 am
Great Davis Cup debut for Carlos Alcaraz: The newly crowned Rio winner celebrated a 6: 4 and 6: 3 victory over Marius Copil in the international match against Romania and thus gave Spain a 2: 0 lead in Marbella. Previously, Roberto Bautista Agut had taken the first point for the Iberians.
France acted no less confidently on the first day of the Davis Cup qualifying round: Arthur Rinderknech and Adrian Mannarino won the first two individual games against Ecuador and ensured a dream start. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut could already do everything in doubles.
USA and Argentina sovereign
The USA (against Colombia), the Netherlands (against Canada) and Argentina (against the Czech Republic) are also 2-0 up.
Things are tighter in Bratislava, on the other hand, where Slovakia is surprisingly keeping up with Italy. Although Jannik Sinner won the first single against Norbert Gombos 6: 4, 4: 6 and 6: 4, Filip Horansky then prevailed against Lorenzo Sonego in two sets. In Finland (against Belgium), Norway (against Kazakhstan) and Sweden (against Japan) no preliminary decision has been made either. This also applies to the duel between Brazil and Germany .
The international fights between South Korea and Austria and Australia and Hungary have already been finally decided. South Korea won 3-1 in Seoul , but the home side won 3-2 in Sydney after being 2-1 down.