The United States became the first playoff participant to punch a ticket to the 2016 World Group. With a 2-1 lead going into the final day of action, the visitors closed out Uzbekistan thanks to Jack Sock’s 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Denis Istomin.
Both Sock and Istomin had put up points for their respective nations on Friday. Istomin outlasted Steve Johnson 7-5 in the fifth set before Sock dusted aside Farrukh Dustov 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
Johnson matched Sock in playing a hand in two of the Americans’ three points. In addition to his 1-1 singles record, Johnson teamed up with Sam Querrey to dominate Saturday’s doubles rubber. But success was especially sweet for Sock, who seemed to be on course for a run at the U.S. Open but had to retire from his second-round match against Ruben Bemelmans because of heat problems.
“To get two wins and play solid matches for me gives me a lot of confidence, especially after New York and have to pull out and retire there,” said Sock. “It’s tough to go out that way. This will give me a lot of confidence the rest of the year.”
“One of the challenges here was bringing a team with very little experience, but one of the great things is we come out of this tie is now these guys have had a taste of Davis Cup,” captain Jim Courier added. “We have more options at our disposal I think that is important for the US team. We need to have as many options for surfaces as we will face. I think we are at a better spot at the end of this year than probably we were at the end of last year.”
Next year will mark the 28th consecutive appearance for the United States in the World Group. The draw ceremony will be held on Wednesday.
Switzerland will also be an interested party during Wednesday’s proceedings, as Roger Federer sent his country back to the World Group for 2016 by finishing off the Netherlands on Sunday in Geneva. Federer beat Thiemo De Bakker 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the tie 3-1 in favor of the Swiss.
“It was a great atmosphere,” the 34-year-old assured. “For a playoff tie, to have as many people that we had was wonderful, so I really enjoyed myself this weekend. I’m very pleased with my performance in the match today.”
Federer went 2-1 overall during the tie against the Dutch, including 2-0 in singles. He bounced back from a Saturday doubles loss with Marco Chiudinelli to De Bakker and Matwe Middelkoop.
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GB 3-1
They will probably have goffin and Darcis in singles and Murray and ward or at least that’s what they should do.
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