Italy kept their hopes of playing in the Davis Cup World Group next season alive with a victory over Switzerland in the doubles in Genoa on Saturday.
Simone Bolelli and Potito Starace beat Marco Chiudinelli and Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to reduce their deficit in matches to 2-1.
Switzerland had won both the opening singles in straight sets on Friday but rested Roger Federer for the doubles.
Meanwhile, Britain were facing relegation to Group Two of the Euro/Africa Davis Cup zone despite the presence of world No. 3 Andy Murray on their team after Poland won Saturday’s doubles to take a 2-1 lead in their playoff match in Liverpool.
Murray partnered Ross Hutchins despite aggravating a wrist injury in his singles victory on Friday but the duo were still beaten 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 by experienced Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski
Britain needed Murray and Dan Evans to win both reverse singles yesterday, assuming Murray was fit enough to play, to avoid dropping below Euro/Africa zone Group One for the first time in 13 years.
China won both Davis Cup reverse singles matches yesterday to beat Thailand 4-1 and retain its place in Asia/Oceania Group I.
China saw off a match point in the doubles on Saturday, coming from two sets down to win and take a 2-1 lead.
In yesterday’s opener, Zeng Shaoxuan beat Thai No.1 Danai Udomchoke 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to secure the tie in China’s favor.
China’s Gong Maoxin defeated Kittiphong Wachiramanowong 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the remaining match in Jiaxing.
Thailand are relegated to Group II for next year, replaced by the Philippines, who were promoted with a 4-1 win over New Zealand.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but