VALENCIA. The Fuente de San Luis pavilion in Valencia will close the Davis Cup Qualifiers in Group B this Sunday with the final round between Australia and Spain. Two national teams have already secured their qualification to the Final 8, before the matches that will close this competition.
With the goal of securing a ticket to Malaga, David Ferrer, captain of the Spanish team, made the decision to bring in players who had not yet made their debut. Thus, Pablo Carreño was the first to jump onto the Valencian court, where he finally beat Jordan Thompson (6-2/2-6/-7) in more than 2 and a half hours of play.
The Australian, currently ranked in the top 30 of the world, showed his great form from the start. He won three games in a row, the second to love and the return, giving him a significant advantage over the Asturian. Although Carreño was warming up with a more accurate arm, the player from Sydney would break his opponent’s serve again, thus winning the first set.
The former bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics would react in the second set. After remaining tied in the initial moves, the solidity at the back of the court was getting him into the match, until in the fifth game, he took the return with his rival, taking the lead on the scoreboard. A circumstance that was confirmed by his better performances as the minutes passed, which would be confirmed with a second break and thus the return of the 6-2 previously received.
However, with the entry into the third and final set, Thompson was up to three games ahead. A lead that seemed to be enough. But with the match very uphill, the tennis player from Gijón brought out the best in himself, in a similar way to Roberto Bautista yesterday, to balance the duel and take it to the tie-break for its definitive definition.
A stroke of luck that put the finishing touch to an epic comeback, in front of a devoted crowd that gave the Spanish player a brilliant victory.
In just a few minutes it will be Pedro Martinez’s turn to open the scoring for the host country against Alexei Popyrin.
