Brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer on Thursday helped Sweden sweep aside Canada, while France fought back to down the Czech Republic and Croatia crushed Australia at the opener of the revamped Davis Cup.
Holders Spain suffered a blow to their title defense before hitting a ball in anger with Carlos Alcaraz in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
The rest of the Spanish team, who are missing Rafael Nadal, were given the all-clear after polymerase chain reaction tests to play Ecuador in Madrid yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
Sweden were in imperious form in the Spanish capital against the Canadian 2019 finalists who went into battle without their top two players, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov.
Elias Ymer, 25, started the tournament strong, beating Steven Diez 6-4, 6-2 before his two-year younger sibling Mikael Ymer sped past Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
“Today my forehand was blasting,” Elias Ymer said. “I was hitting winners from everywhere.”
Robert Lindstedt and Andre Goransson then combined for a 7-6, 6-4 doubles win over Pospisil and Brayden Schnur to leave the Swedes needing a win over Kazakhstan today to progress to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2011.
In Innsbruck, where a surge in COVID-19 cases and a subsequent lockdown in Austria meant that matches ware being played once again in an empty arena, France started off rocky when 35-year-old veteran Richard Gasquet lost 7-6, 6-2 to Tomas Machac.
“Experience isn’t everything. Form is the key and I wasn’t up to scratch today,” Gasquet said.
France came back as Adrian Mannarino beat Jiri Vesely 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-2, while Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Jiri Lehecka and Machac in three sets.
Great Britain complete Group C.
Australia, 28-time winners of the Davis Cup, have work to do after losing 3-0 to Croatia in Turin.
Borna Gojo beat Alexei Popyrin 7-6, 7-5 before Marin Cilic despatched Alex de Minaur 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic then raced to a 6-3, 6-1 win over De Minaur and John Peers.
Hungary await their debut in this Group D.
Spain was yesterday to face Ecuador, as the US open against Italy and Novak Djokovic’s Serbia take on Austria.
The Davis Cup, which began in 1900 as a bilateral contest between Britain and the US, has had numerous makeovers in the past, most recently in 2019 when it was reshaped to resemble a world championships.
This year’s competition sees 12 qualifiers — Australia, Austria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Sweden and the US — joined by the previous edition’s semi-finalists — Canada, the Russian Tennis Federation, Spain and the UK. They are joined by wild card nations France and Serbia.
The 18 nations are divided into six groups of three, with winners and the top pair of second places going into the quarter-finals pot.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
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Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
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