Taiwan yesterday failed to pull off the upset they required in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I playoff at the Yang Gu Tennis Park in South Korea as the visitors were relegated.
Taiwan’s world No. 592 Yu Cheng-yu took on world No. 44 Chung Hye-on in the first reverse singles rubber looking for an unlikely victory, but was defeated 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in one hour, 56 minutes as the hosts took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five match.
Chung saved both break points he faced and converted six of 21, winning 99 of the 167 points contested.
Photo: AFP
There was some consolidation for the visitors in the dead second reverse singles rubber when Wu Tung-lin won a shortened three-set match 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 over Lee Jea-moon in 1 hour, 58 minutes.
Wu saved 10 of 15 break points and converted seven of 10, firing down eight aces to make the final score 3-2 to the hosts.
Typhoon rains again yesterday washed out the playoffs between Japan and Brazil with the hosts on the cusp of victory.
Japan, who took a 2-0 lead after Friday’s opening singles, were set to play Yasutaka Uchiyama and Kiwi-born Ben McLachlan against Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, but the rubber has been further pushed back today after a second day of rain, organizers said.
The home nation took command of the tie after Yuichi Sugita beat Guilherme Clezar 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 and Go Soeda edged Thiago Monteiro in five sets.
Japan, missing talisman Kei Nishikori through injury, need just one more win from the best-of-five playoff to return to the Davis Cup’s top tier as they look to bounce back from a stinging defeat by France in February.
Japan have preserved their world group status with playoff wins in the past two years, largely helped by Nishikori’s heroics.
Australia on Saturday edged closer to a first Davis Cup final in 14 years when Jordan Thompson and John Peers swept past Arthur De Greef and Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 for a 2-1 lead in their semi-final against Belgium.
Australia, the 28-time champions, look likely to face nine-time winners France who are 2-1 up on Serbia thanks to Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert clinching a 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) win over Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic.
Australia last won the Davis Cup in 2003 when they beat Spain in the final.
“We had a job to do today and we came out and did it from start to finish. Playing with Thommo and in front of this crowd and perform the way we did is just incredible,” Peers said after Saturday’s win in Brussels.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios defeated Steve Darcis 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-2 on Friday, while Goffin saw off John Millman 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
In Lille, Mahut and Herbert needed less than two hours to see off Serbia’s 41-year-old playing captain Zimonjic and Krajinovic.
That Yannick Noah’s hosts have yet to book their place in the final is down to Dusan Lajovic’s shock 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5) win in Friday’s opening rubber against Lucas Pouille, although Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had leveled the tie by beating debutant Laslo Djere 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 6-3.
Mahut and Herbert, the 2015 US Open and last year’s Wimbledon champions, came back from 5-2 down in the third set to wrap up the win.
France are bidding for a first Davis Cup title since 2001, having lost three finals since with the most recent a defeat by Roger Federer’s Switzerland in 2014.
“Nico and Pierre-Hugues had a mini-test at the end. It was probably too easy and they wanted to give me an ulcer,” Noah said.
In Astana, Kazakhstan are 2-1 up on last year’s champions Argentina, while 2014 winners Switzerland trail Belarus 2-1 in Biel.
Max Mirnyi, 40, celebrated his 55th tie for Belarus over a 24-year career by teaming with Andrei Vasilevski in a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) win over Adrian Bodmer and Luca Margaroli.
Boris Becker, Germany’s head of tennis, saw his team edge 2-1 ahead of Portugal in Lisbon.
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