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.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
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