The first rubber of Wednesday’s Davis Cup tie between the United States and Chile–featuring Reilly Opelka and Cristian Garin–went the distance, having to be decided by a third-set tiebreaker. And so did the next rubber. And so did the next rubber after that.
Yes, all three matches in this round-robin showdown in Zhuhai could not have been any closer. Nonetheless, Chile emerged entirely empty-handed as Team USA won all three matches in decisive tiebreakers.
Opelka beat Garin 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3), Brandon Nakashima battled past Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(3), and the doubles duo of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek outlasted Tomas Barrios Vera and Matias Soto 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
“It was truly an epic day of tennis for both teams,” United States captain Bob Bryan. “Everyone showed a lot of heart, a lot of guts. Hats off to the Chileans. Hats off to our guys who were really digging deep, especially in the big moments.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened in Davis Cup that all matches went to the third-set ‘breaker…. Historic day. Just feeling very, very proud of the players.”
The Americans will face Slovakia (0-1 with a loss to Germany) on Friday.
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USA rolled even with its C team