PARIS (AFP) – Novak Djokovic sped previous Austria’s Dennis Novak to offer Serbia an unassailable 2-0 lead of their Davis Cup opening match at Innsbruck on Friday (Nov 26).
Djokovic took an hour to beat Novak 6-3, 6-2 after Dusan Lajovic noticed off Gerald Melzer 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 behind closed doorways resulting from a resurgence of the coronavirus in Austria.
Djokovic is making an attempt to finish an already memorable yr on a excessive after claiming thee of the season’s 4 Grand Slams.
Elsewhere Italy have been main the US in Turin and Spain have been forward of Ecuador in Madrid.
Backed by a hearty dwelling crowd Italy raced right into a 2-0 lead over the States due to wins from Lorenzo Sonego and Jannik Sinner. Sonego, the world No.27, was ecstatic.
“I performed the very best tennis of my life,” he claimed after seeing off Reilly Opelka 6-3, 7-6 (7/4). Sinner then pulverised a static John Isner 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes.
Within the doubles rubber Simone Bolleli and Fabio Fognini will play Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock whereas Colombia are the third staff in Group E. The 40-year-old Feliciano López opened Spain’s title defence with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador.
“It is a present to be again right here enjoying the singles rubbers, I by no means anticipated it, I used to be alleged to play within the doubles however after every thing that occurred this week right here I’m.” “I believe I did okay,” he stated, referring to the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, who went into quarantine on Thursday after testing constructive for Covid-19.
On the opening day of the revamped 2021 finals brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer helped Sweden sweep apart Canada, France fought again to down the Czech Republic and Croatia crushed Australia.
The Davis Cup, which started life again in 1900 as a bilateral contest between Britain and the US, was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
This yr’s competitors sees 12 qualifiers – Australia, Austria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Sweden and USA – joined by the earlier version’s semi-finalists – Spain, Canada, Nice Britain and the Russian Tennis Federation.
These are joined by two wild card nations France and Serbia. These 18 nations are divided into six teams of three, with winners and the highest pair of second locations going into the quarter-finals pot.
The semi-finals and December 5 ultimate will all be performed within the Spanish capital, reward for the staff that gained the title two years in the past after 2020 was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
