Chen Ti and Jason Jung yesterday kept alive Taiwan’s bid to stave off relegation from Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I with a straight-sets victory in the doubles rubber at the Yang Gu Tennis Park in South Korea.
Chen and Jung defeated the hosts’ Lee Jea-moon and Lim Yong-kyu 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a minute over two hours to grab a point for the visitors, who will need to win both singles rubbers today to survive the drop.
The Taiwanese duo saved nine of 11 break points and converted five of nine, firing down five aces and winning 100 of the 186 points contested to keep their team’s hopes alive.
Photo: AFP
With South Korea holding a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five contest, Jung will need to upset world No. 44 Chung Hye-on in the first reverse singles rubber today, before Wu Tung-lin is due to take on Kwon Soon-woo.
Pakistan remain favorites to replace the losers in Asia/Oceania Group I, despite losing the doubles rubber to Thailand in the Group II promotion playoff yesterday.
Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana rallied from a set down to defeat Muhammad Abid and Shahzad Khan 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad to grab a point for the visitors, who trailed 2-1 heading into today’s reverse singles.
Elsewhere, Nick Kyrgios clinched a five-set thriller to pull Australia level with Belgium in their World Group semi-finals on Friday, just hours after admitting he was not taking tennis seriously enough.
The combustible Kyrgios came back from 2-1 down to defeat 33-year-old Steve Darcis 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-2 in 3 hours, 36 minutes on the clay courts of Brussels’ Palais 12 Arena.
Kyrgios fired 34 aces and 41 winners to take his Davis Cup singles record to seven wins in eight as Australia finished the day at 1-1 after world No. 12 David Goffin had beaten 185-ranked John Millman 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Kyrgios, defeated in the first round of the US Open by compatriot Millman earlier this month, went into the match with a hip injury as well as a lack of motivation.
Writing on www.playersvoice.com, the 22-year-old said: “I am not the professional tennis needs me to be.”
“I’m not making the improvements I should because I don’t want it enough, I’m not taking it seriously enough,” he said. “There is a constant tug-of-war between the competitor within me wanting to win, win, win and the human in me wanting to live a normal life with my family away from the public glare.”
However, he was overjoyed by his performance in Brussels as Australia seek a place in the Davis Cup final for the first time since they previously won the title in 2003.
Captain “Lleyton Hewitt and I have put so much dedication into this, the Davis Cup has been my No.1 priority this year. I think we must be favorites going into the doubles’ tomorrow,” Kyrgios told daviscup.com.
In Lille, France, Dusan Lajovic made a mockery of the absence of Novak Djokovic to give Serbia a shock lead over France in their semi-final.
World No. 80 Lajovic edged Lucas Pouille, ranked 58 places higher, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5) in the first rubber of the tie.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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