Switzerland’s reign as Davis Cup holders was swiftly ended when they paid the inevitable price for fielding a second-string team and lost 3-2 to Belgium in the first round in Liege on Sunday.
Just over three months since Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka drove them to an historic title in Lille, France, it was a different story without their big two as Switzerland became the first champions in 10 years to fall at the first hurdle.
World No. 2 Federer and Wawrinka had chosen to stand aside after achieving their ambitions and the stand-ins were not able to upset the odds against much higher-ranked players, despite a heroic effort from 22-year-old Henri Laaksonen.
Photo: Reuters
The world No. 344, who previously played for Finland, leveled the tie at 2-2 with a 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Steve Darcis, a player ranked 242 places higher.
For the second time in three days, the remarkable Laaksonen fought back to prevail in a five-setter.
However, Switzerland’s hopes were extinguished in the deciding rubber when David Goffin, the world No. 21 who was rested on Friday because of concerns over a back injury, proved too good for world No. 321 Adrien Bossel and won 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.
For the second year running Andy Murray led Britain to a first-round victory over the US when he beat John Isner 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in Glasgow, Scotland.
The former Wimbledon champion survived some early scares against the big-serving American before taking charge to steer Britain into an unassailable 3-1 lead.
In the quarter-finals Britain face a home tie against France, who beat Germany with a day to spare.
“It’s been incredible the whole week. To be in the quarter-finals for the second time in a row is a credit to everyone,” said world No. 5 Murray, who reveled in front of a Scottish crowd.
Isner, beaten in five sets by British No. 2 James Ward on Friday, had three set points in the opener, but could not convert, and despite some fierce resistance in the third set he could not keep the 32-time champions alive.
Italy, who beat Britain in the quarter-finals last year, went down to Kazakhstan in Astana where Aleksandr Nedovyesov, ranked 130th in the world, stunned world No. 22 Fabio Fognini in five sets to seal a 3-2 victory.
Kazakhstan next travel to former Davis Cup heavyweights Australia, who enjoyed a 3-1 victory over 2012 and 2013 winners the Czech Republic in Ostrava, Bernard Tomic clinching the win with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) triumph over Lukas Rosol.
Australia are through to the last eight for the first time since 2006.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s Serbia crushed Croatia 5-0 and next take on Argentina or Brazil.
Leonardo Mayer kept Argentina in the tie against Brazil in Buenos Aires with a five-set win over Joao Souza in a match that set a competition singles record by lasting 6 hours, 42 minutes.
With the tie at 2-2, Argentina went into a fourth day yesterday with Federico Delbonis leading Thomaz Bellucci 6-3 in the deciding rubber after bad light ended play.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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