ITALY 1, FRANCE 1 Venue: Valletta Cambiaso ASD, Genoa, ITA (clay - outdoor) Lucas Pouille withstood a strong comeback effort to beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1 in Genoa. The World No. 11 began well, breaking six times en route to a two-set lead, but Seppi fought back in front of his home fans to force a decider. Not to be denied, Pouille re-established control and raced to victory in the fifth set to secure defending champion France a 1-0 lead. “The emotions are the maximum,” Pouille told DavisCup.com. “It's great to win that type of match. I was two sets up, he came back; that was so tough for me in the fourth set. I tried...
ATPWorldTour.com previews this week's four Davis Cup quarter-finals, which feature three of the Top 4 players in the ATP Rankings. SPAIN v GERMANY Venue: Plaza de Toros de Valencia – Valencia, Spain Surface: Clay (outdoors) Five-time champion Spain welcomes back World No. 1 Rafael Nadal for the first time in the competition since September 2016 in its 17th meeting against Germany, the 1988-89, ’93 titlist. Germany leads Spain 10-6 overall, but the two nations are 4-4 in clay-court ties. Spain has won 26 straight home Davis Cup ties, with its last defeat at home coming against Brazil in 1999. Nadal, who has not played since falling to Marin Cilic in the Australian Open quarter-finals more than two months ago, has...
FRANCE 3, NETHERLANDS 1 Venue: Halle Olympique, Albertville, FRA (hard- indoor) Adrian Mannarino banished the disappointment of his loss on Friday to beat Robin Haase in a five-set marathon 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5 and book France’s spot in the quarter-finals of Davis Cup World Group play, in which the defending champion will play Italy. "Having my teammates cheer for me meant I could fight point after point," Mannarino told DavisCup.com. "I had to give it my all. I'm so happy to have this moment." Mannarino arrived late to the tie — he was in Malta on Thursday — after both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille were forced to the sidelines with injury. But Mannarino found his footing and earned his first Davis Cup triumph in dramatic...
AUSTRALIA 1, GERMANY 3 Venue: Pat Rafter Arena, Brisbane, AUS (hard- outdoor) Alexander Zverev guided Germany into the quarter-finals of the 2018 Davis Cup with a commanding 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Australian Nick Kyrgios Sunday in Brisbane. Zverev was close to untouchable on serve, firing 15 aces, putting 71 per cent of first serves into play and winning 80 per cent of first-serve points. He also fought off all four break points he faced, while breaking Kyrgios four times. Kyrgios had won three of their four career FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings coming to the tie, including when they last met in the China Open semi-finals last year. A frustrated Kyrgios was given a point penalty in the tie-break for...
SERBIA 0, USA 3 Venue: Sportski Centar Cair, Nis, SRB (clay - indoor) The United States moved into the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year after Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson clinched the tie with a 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory against Nikola Milojevic and Miljan Zekic. "It feels great. I've got to thank my partner. He played great the whole time," Harrison said on court after the win. "I felt like early on I was struggling to get a little bit of rhythm but he was super-positive the whole time and picked me up a lot. I felt like after the first set we really got a rhythm going and go USA, and thanks to my partner for pulling...