Belgium on Sunday secured a controversial victory in Davis Cup qualifying when Chile’s Cristian Garin refused to continue in the decisive rubber after being painfully knocked down by his opponent, Zizou Bergs.
Elsewhere, Spain made light of the absence of Carlos Alcaraz as they swept past Switzerland.
France also advanced and Hungary survived a second-day fightback by Canada.
Photo: Reuters
In Hasselt, Belgium, after the hosts won the day’s opening doubles to lead 2-1, Bergs then faced Garin in the first reverse singles. After holding serve in a marathon 11th game in the third set, an excited Bergs galloped around the court in celebration and raced past the net toward his chair, colliding with Garin and sending him flying.
“It’s truly unintentional,” Bergs said. “I wanted to go fast to the bench, but I made a completely wrong decision to not wait for the opponent.”
An independent doctor ruled Garin was fit to continue and serve to stay in the match, but he refused. Bergs was awarded the deciding game to win 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
“It feels really bad to end this way,” Bergs told the Davis Cup Web site. “It’s obviously not what you want, to hurt an opponent.”
Bergs said he also apologized to Chile captain Nicolas Massu.
“Terrible situation,” Massu said. “We’re here to play tennis, to defend our country. Garin is the player hit in the eye, who could not continue and now we’re out.”
An ITF spokesperson said: “We understand the emotions attached to this unusual incident, but the final decision was made after consideration of all the facts and unique circumstances around it.”
Belgium are to face Australia in the second round.
In Biel, Switzerland, Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar carved out a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win over Dominic Stricker and Marc-Andrea Huesler in the doubles to put Spain 3-0 up.
They head to Denmark for the second qualifying round in September.
France also booked their place in the next phase as Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Benjamin Bonzi came from behind to beat Brazilian pair of Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Orleans, France, for a 3-0 lead and book a trip to Croatia in September.
In Montreal, Marton Fucsovics survived a long first-set tiebreak to beat Alexis Galarneau 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, ending a Canadian fightback and send Hungary through 3-2.
Canada started the day 2-0 down, but leveled as Liam Draxl and Vasek Pospisil beat Peter Fajta and Mate Valkusz 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in the doubles, while Gabriel Diallo crushed Fabian Maroszan 6-1, 6-3 in the first of the reverse singles.
Jannik Sinner’s Italy are the two-time defending champions having won the event in 2023 and last year.
As a result, Italy get a free pass to the finals in Bologna in November.
The defending champions are taking over hosting duties from Malaga, Spain.
Last year’s runners-up the Netherlands get a bye to the second round where they face Argentina.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Australia yesterday won two of four races on the first day of the SailGP Sydney event on Sydney Harbour to finish the day atop the points table ahead of Britain and a French team who made an outstanding return after missing the first two events of the season. Australia also had a third and a second placing, finishing the day with 37 points, ahead of Britain with 32 points and France with 27. Britain won the second race of the day and Switzerland, who won the first race, were in fourth place overall. Australia’s prowess in the start box was again the