The Davis Cup Finals kicked off with group-stage action on Tuesday, when France, Serbia, Chile, and the Netherlands earned opening victories.
In Group A, Chile swept Sweden 3-0. Cristian Garin and Nicolas Jarry were the singles stalwarts before they passed the baton to the doubles duo of Alejandro Tabilo and Tomas Berrios Vera.
Group B got underway with France blanking Switzerland 3-0. Adrian Mannarino and Ugo Humbert put their country ahead 2-0; Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin made it a clean sweep with a 6-2, 6-2 doubles success. Stan Wawrinka lost in both singles and doubles for the Swiss.
Although Serbia does not have U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic at its disposal, it had no trouble beating Korea 3-0 in Group C. Dusan Lajovic and Laslo Djere picked up singles victories before Miomir Kecmanovic and Nikola Cacic brought it home in doubles.
The most competitive tie of the day came in Group D, where the Netherlands battled past Finland 2-1. After falling behind 1-0, the Dutchmen got a singles win from Tallon Griekspoor and then Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop prevailed 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the decisive doubles rubber.
Round-robin competition at the Davis Cup Finals consists of 16 teams in groups of four. Each quartet is being played at a host sit in Euroupe–either Bologna, Manchester, Split, or Valencia–this week. The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the the last eight. That knockout stage–from the quarterfinals through the final–will be played from November 21-26 in Malaga, Spain.
good stuff from France
FY ricky. Why the recent WTA comments about Simona where removed? They are the most recent comments and now can’t find that page.