On Wednesday, Italy advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals without second-ranked Jannik Sinner. On Thursday, Spain did the same without top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
Given that Alcaraz is not on their roster, the Spaniards’ backs were against the wall right from the start against a fully-loaded Czechia squad in Bologna, Italy. More adversity was to be had after Pablo Carreno Busta lost the opening singles rubber to Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-4. An underdog against Jiri Lehecka, Jaume Munar hit back for a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
That set the stage for a decisive doubles match, in which Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez defeated Mensik and Tomas Machac 7-6(8), 7-6(8). The Spanish duo saved multiple set points in both the first and the second before it all ended on a Mensik double-fault.
“I was pretty confident in my tennis,” Munar commented. “It doesn’t matter who I have in front of me. I’ve been playing really good indoors this year. I had great confidence in myself, and that’s the main thing.”
Spain awaits either Germany or Argentina in the semifinals on Saturday. Italy will go up against Belgium on Friday.
nice one, Munar