Three more quarterfinals took place during Davis Cup action in Madrid on Friday, completing the semifinal lineup for this weekend. Russia, Great Britain, and Spain triumphed in their ties to join Canada in the final four.
Russia and Spain both survived decisive doubles rubbers. For the Russians, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov outlasted Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki in an instant classic. Team Serbia held three match points in a third-set tiebreaker but could not get across the finish line. The host Spanish side saw Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers scrape past Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer and Maximo Gonzalez in three sets.
Saturday’s semifinal lineup is Canada vs. Russia and Spain vs. Great Britain. Andy Murray was left out of the British lineup in the quarterfinals, but his country still took care of Germany 2-0.
Canada vs. Russia
Projected singles 1: Denis Shapovalov vs. Karen Khachanov
Projected singles 2: Vasek Pospisil vs. Andrey Rublev
Projected doubles: Shapovalov/Pospisil vs. Khachanov/Rublev
Spain vs. Great Britain
Projected singles 1: Rafael Nadal vs. Dan Evans
Projected singles 2: Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kyle Edmund
Projected doubles: Nadal/Marcel Granollers vs. Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski
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I’ve read about all the articles I can read about this new format. Seems like they have a lot of issues to work out. Spain winning in Spain, with Rafa, not anything new there. At least there will be lots of people in the stands. Thought it was nice of Rafa to dedicate the win to Roberto.
Impressed with Vasek, nice to see him make a comeback after his back injury.
Still think they missed marketing opportunities by not having it televised in the States. I would have watched a lot of matches.
Best of luck to all the teams!
Spain winning on hard court in Madrid IS something new. Vamos Rafa! Wherever he plays.
Ramara, I agree that indoor hardcourt at a fairly high altitude is Rafa’s least favorite surface and Rafa has won an indoor hardcourt event only once and very early in his career: when the Madrid Masters 1000 tournament was still held on indoor hardcourt ☺
But the WTF has been in London for the past 9 years or so which gives home advantage to Murray although Murray has only won it once there.
“only”???
I don’t think anyone in the world would expect Murray to win the year-end championship more than once REGARDLESS of where it was held. I don’t care if it was held every year in BUCKINGHAM PALACE…or even EDINBOROUGH CASTLE.
Totally agree re: Murray and the WTF.
While as a Rafafan I would love to see Team Spain lifting the DC trophy tonight, I don’t think it’s fair if the revamped DC will be held in Madrid for a few more years. The crowd support is far more important for team events like DC than for other tournaments, where the spectators often root for a player who is not from their country simply because they like him. Rafa and Roger are crowd favorites no matter where they play. This is very different in DC where the patriot factor is far more pronounced and rowdy crowds can motivate a second tier player to great heroics and carry him over the finish line.
I think the DC finals event is supposed to be played in Madrid next year also. After that they’ll move it somewhere else. But anywhere they put it will give a team the home field advantage. This format is a little bit different since the home team does not get to choose the surface or location within their country. Obviously Spain would have chosen clay if they could have.
littlefoot AT 10:53 AM,
The Davis Cup qualifying ties will still be played on a home-and-away basis. Germany will play at home. Enjoy!
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1198576308936216576
Thanks, Augusta!
Vamos Rafa…indeed!….and would be fun to see him play doubs today!!!
Spain’s best hope is to clone Rafa. Well, maybe his doubles partner can just stay in a small part of the court and let Rafa cover the rest…?
RBA has rejoined the team after burying his father. PCB is injured, Feli is a train wreck, Granollers has back trouble. Rafa doesn’t have a team, he’s got a hospital ward! Whatever, Vamos Rafa!
Wahooo!!! Rafa and Feli won their doubles. Spain through to the finals v Canada! Vamos Espana! O Canada!
In the US, if you get it, Fox Sports 2 will carry the DC final! Yay, I get to watch Rafa play DC at last!
Rafa looks tired; all those matches during the week have taken their toll. Shapo is much younger and looks the fresher of the two. Rafa not looking good out there in the second set. He better up his level and avoids a third set!
oh ye of little faith, luckystar. Congrats to Rafa. Exquisite tennis all week.
Yes vamos Rafa! Spain wins the Davis Cup again, at the end of the decade! What a way to cap a great season for Rafa – getting his fifth YE no.1 and helping Spain gets another Davis Cup! Well done Spain, especially Rafa!
Now go and get a well deserved break, just rest and relax and then starts preparing for the new season. Most important thing is: stays fit and healthy!
Vamos Rafa! Vamos Spain! 🏆 💥 👏
The Davis Cup prize money is quite lucrative:
(USD, converted from euros)
Winner: $2.4 million to players / 1.06 to the Tennis Federation
Finalist: 1.75 to players / 844,000 to the Federation
Semifinalists: 1.5 million to players / $750,000 to Federation
Quarter-finals: 1.28 million to players / 600,000 to federation
Group stages: 600,000 to players / 300,000 to federation
Yeah! The Spanish Armada did it!
I would’ve been happy for the Canadians, too, but for Rafa this is a wonderful and well deserved finish of an extraordinary and very special season.
Congrats Spain, and well done Rafa for capping off an amazing year, 3 GS finals, 2 GS trophies, 19 GS in total, 1 shy of Federer, year end number 1 for the 5 th time, 6 th DC win, amazing just amazing, oh and he got married too , hope he can carry it into next season, and crack the case and win another AO, and finally a WTF ….
Happy holidays Tenngrand posters, tennis season is now closed 🙂
begins again in 5 weeks lol!!
So, we all thought it was the end of a fabulous season with the perfect ending when Rafa lifted the y/e no.1 trophy.
Well, we are all in for a surprise. THIS was the perfect ending. This was one of the most impressive feats of Rafa’s mind-boggling career.
Winning 8 matches in 5 days and not losing serve even once? Playing on a quick indoor hard court IN HIGH ALTITUDE and still coming unscathed in 8 matches! The guy didn’t even drop a set in singles!
Honestly, this was the best Rafa I have ever seen on a fast surface. Sure, you can definitely dig out instances where he was hitting his forehand and backhand better but never have I seen Rafa this much willing to rush the net. He was hitting not only his usual drop volleys but also hitting through and exploring more dimensions on the court. The S&V was also done so brilliantly!
I said it a while back that Rafa’s peformance against Djoko in their latest exhibition was quite interesting. Both men were playing at a high level but we saw Rafa doing s&v and frequent net rushes. And boy he did that impressively!
Mark knowles thinks Rafa is the best doubles player in the world.
With his bigger serving since USO, he can be a mega force again in 2020 as long as he stays healthy. I am excited to see what he brings to the table after working further on those areas in the off season.
Vamos and enjoy the break.
Yes VR, I’m feeling very positive about Rafa’s 2020 season. As long as he doesnt get himself injured again, I think we can expect another good or even great season from Rafa.
If Rafa continues to serve like this, plays with all sorts of varieties and hits his FH and BH well, he’ll be hard to beat. One area that needs improvement is his ROS imo. He still struggles against big servers and it’ll be perfect if he’s able to return serves at an even better level. He will be almost perfect a player should he be able to do all that.
Wonderful end to a truly wonderful year! Only Rafa. Words fail me. This guy, so dejected, so downhearted after all his injuries that he actually considered pulling the plug in the midst of the clay season?!? From there to winning Rome, RG, semis at Wimbledon, winning Rogers Cup, USO in the best final ever seen there?!?! Coming back from yet another injury in Paris, playing his heart out at the WTF, lifting the YE#1 trophy. And did he rest on his laurels as many of his fans wanted him to? No way! He cheered, pushed, shoved and literally carried his team through to the DC trophy! And then gave the credit to everyone in sight! Honestly I was terrified during that last TB – not sure he could possibly make it through another set or doubles match. I know he was running on fumes. I have never seen Rafa ASK for crowd support while playing before. And, “no breaks, Ubaldo, no breaks, no one break!”
I only saw highlights but I swear, during Rafa’s match with Schwartzman I have never seen Rafa move better on a tennis court!
There were plenty of Davis Cup heroes this week but Rafa got the very well deserved “Most Inspirational” trophy!
I Really think he has a good chance of at least equally Federers GS tally, or even surpassing it, although he hasnt won more than 1 GS in a year, after winning multiple in previous years, be interesting to see if he could reverse the trend, i can imagine the conversations if he does equal that GS tally, im excited for next year, and the prospect of the possibility, although thats not to say Federer wont win another GS, and obviously Novak will still be right there fighting with them too ….