Posted in: 09/15/2022 – 08:06Last update: 09/15/2022 – 08:04
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Paris (AFP) – Spain, without its two stars, Carlos Alcaras, first in the world and Rafael Nadal III, defeated Serbia, deprived of the services of its champion Novak Djokovic, 3-0 in the first round of the second round of the Davis Cup competition, while Italy beat Croatia, second in the 2021 edition. With the same result.
Alcaras, crowned on Sunday with the title of the US Open, the last of the four Grand Slams, which allowed him to become the youngest world number one in history, attracted everyone’s attention in Valencia in front of his fans, but the Spanish captain Sergei Bruguera decided to let the 19 year old rest, so he involved Albert Ramos-Vinolas (40th world) and Roberto Bautista (21st world) for the singles matches against Laszlo Dijri (66th world) and Miomir Keczmanovic ( 33rd world championship).
Serbia, who reached the semifinals of the last edition, reacted a lot in the singles and lost with difficulty, when Diri fell against Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 5-7, and Kichmanovic against Bautista Agut 6-7 (5-7) and 6-7 (5-7), before Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martins established the double against Nikola Kacic and Dusan Lajovic 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2.
Spain made it through the group against Canada, who beat South Korea 2-1 on Tuesday.
In the first round of Bologna, Italy, absent from Yannick Sener, 11th in the world, beat Croatia 3-0, second in the last edition.
Lorenzo Mozetti beat Borna Goyo 6-4, 6-2, Matteo Berrettini beat Borna Coric 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-1, Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini beat Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 3 -6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).
Italy took the top spot in the group from Sweden, who opened the competition on Tuesday by beating Argentina 2-1.
In the third in Hamburg, Germany, whose star Alexander Zverev, fifth in the world, is absent, won 2-1 over France.
Jan-Lennard Struff gave Germany the lead by beating Benjamin Ponzi 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 and Adrian Mannarino to draw by beating Oscar Otte 6-4, 6-3, but Tim Puits and Kevin Kravitz won double. against Nicolas Mahut and Artur Rinderknech 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1).
Australia beat Belgium 3-0 on Tuesday in the same group.
In the fourth in Glasgow, the United States beat Great Britain 2-1.
The US advanced as Tommy Powell beat Dan Evans 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and Britain responded with a Cameron Nouri win over Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6 (7-2) , 7-5, you have the final say for American duo Rajiv Ram and Jack Sock who beat Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
The United States followed Holland in the lead after the latter beat Kazakhstan by the same score on Tuesday.
The first and second place in the groups will qualify for the playoffs (quarter-final, semi-final and final) scheduled in Malaga, Spain, from 22 to 27 November.
To avoid complicated calculations to determine the best runner-up, the number of teams participating in the group stage has been reduced from 18 in the last edition to 16 this year, divided into four groups.
© 2022 AFP
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