(Reuters) – Slovakia’s Filip Horansky shocked Italy’s world quantity 21 Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(2) 6-3 to degree their qualifying tie on Friday for a spot within the Davis Cup Finals later this yr.
The 12 successful groups from the home-and-away qualifiers on Friday and Saturday will be a part of Croatia, who secured computerized qualification for the 2022 Finals as final yr’s finalists, and wild playing cards Serbia and Britain.
Russia’s title defence is unsure after governing physique International Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended the memberships of Russia and Belarus and withdrew their entries from workforce competitions following the invasion of Ukraine.
The 29-year-old Horansky, ranked 203rd on the planet, defeated Sonego in an hour 46 minutes in Bratislava to cancel out Jannik Sinner’s hard-fought 6-4 4-6 6-4 win over Norbert Gombos earlier.
“My emotions are wonderful,” Horansky mentioned. “To play in entrance of the house crowd, to win such a troublesome sport, it is the perfect feeling a participant can have. I’m shocked how I performed.”
Playing for the primary time since he was kicked out of the ATP occasion in Acapulco for smashing his racket repeatedly against the umpire’s chair, world quantity three Alexander Zverev beat Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4 6-2 to provide Germany a 1-0 lead.
Germany didn’t construct on Zverev’s win, nonetheless, with Thiago Monteiro recording a 6-3 1-6 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff to make all of it sq. within the tie.
Canada, who’re with out top-20 gamers Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, would require a surprising turnaround to win their tie against the Netherlands.
Botic Van de Zandschulp beat Alexis Galarneau 7-5 7-6(9) to place the Netherlands in entrance earlier than Tallon Griekspoor eased previous Steven Diez 6-4 6-4 to provide his nation a commanding 2-0 lead.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz impressed on his Davis Cup debut as he beat Marius Copil 6-4 6-3 in Marbella to provide his facet, who’re with out 21-times main winner Rafa Nadal, a 2-0 lead over Romania heading into the ultimate day.
The 18-year-old Alcaraz, who was dominated out of the Davis Cup Finals final yr after testing optimistic for COVID-19, turned the youngest participant to clinch an ATP 500 title eventually month’s Rio Open and is having a breakthrough yr on tour.
“I attempt to not put strain on myself to be the way forward for Spanish tennis,” Alcaraz mentioned.
“Lots of individuals say to me, ‘you are going to be primary, you are going to be the perfect’. But I attempt to not pay an excessive amount of consideration to it. I attempt to observe my very own path.”
The United States and France additionally put themselves in a cushty place by taking a 2-0 lead over Colombia and Ecuador respectively of their house ties on the opening day.
Australia’s tie against Hungary in Sydney is ready for an thrilling second day with world quantity 30 Alex de Minaur’s victory cancelling out Marton Fucsovics’ defeat of Thanasi Kokkinakis.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; enhancing by Jane Wardell)
