Belarusian Daniil Ostapenkov, a teenager who had not played a professional-level match before, on Saturday stunned world No. 15 Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-3 in their World Group I Davis Cup match against Argentina.
The 18-year-old became the latest young gun to cause an upset following a US Open where teenagers seized the spotlight and 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
Ostapenkov fired down three aces and saved seven break points to defeat Schwartzman on his home turf at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, although Guido Pella leveled the tie at 1-1 with a convincing win over Erik Arutiunian.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Slovakia completed a 3-1 victory over Chile, with Norbert Gombos thrashing world No. 17 Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-1 for his second win of the tie in Bratislava. The Slovaks must wait to see whether they are automatically into the February qualifiers to reach next year’s finals.
Norway were also triumphant with Casper Ruud’s 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sanjar Fayziev, handing them a 3-1 lead and keeping alive their hopes of reaching the finals.
The eight highest ranked winners from the World Group I ties would go into the Davis Cup qualifiers in February, when they would attempt to qualify for the finals.
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