USA advances to Davis Cup Finals, joined by France and Switzerland

This weekend’s Davis Cup qualifying ties started to wrap up on Saturday, when the United States, France, Switzerland, and Great Britain punched their tickets to the finals.

A total of 12 teams will qualify for the Davis Cup Finals group stage in September, rounding out a field of 16. Four nations are already through to the finals: defending champion Canada, 2022 runner-up Australia and wild cards Spain and Italy.

The United States paid a visit to Uzbekistan and had no trouble pulling off a 3-0 sweep. Tommy Paul and Mackenzie McDonald secured singles wins for the Americans before Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek teamed up for the doubles point.

“I was excited to see Raj and Austin play today,” interim captain David Nainkin commented. “They’ve practiced well all week. They had five great days of preparation, and as anticipated they came out really sharp and got the early break in the first set. And after that it was like two freight trains; there was no stopping them. Austin served great. Eventually he had to serve for the match, and they got the job done.

“It’s one step at a time. The first step is to actually qualify, and that’s what we’ve done. Well done to everybody that was involved in this process, and we look forward to the next steps.”

The most dramatic qualifying tie so far came in Germany, where Switzerland prevailed 3-2. After the Germans seized a 2-1 lead by taking the doubles rubber, Marc-Andrea Huesler evened things up by beating Alexander Zverev 6-2, 7-6(4) and Stan Wawrinka won the clincher over Daniel Altmaier via a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 decision.

“I’m happy I won one point and the last one was the most important, said Wawrinka. “[Huesler] played super well against Zverev. He put us back in the tie after losing the doubles…. We have a great team. “They’ve been building this team for the last few years. I was happy to come back if they need me to help. I’m the oldest by far. We had a great week; we were really helping each other. It was a great week for us.”