Champions Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup as favorite Russian tennis federation booked their place in the quarter-finals with a thrilling win in Madrid. Spanish pair Marcel Granollers and Feliciano López needed to win their doubles decider to send Spain to Serbia’s expense, but Aslan Karatsev and Andrey Rublev sealed a set-down 4-6 6-2 6-4 victory and Russia came to the top position. Group A.
Sweden and Novak Djokovic’s Serbia took the two best runners-up positions and made the last eight on the basis of their superior match win-loss record between the second-placed teams throughout the group stages.
Spain needed to win a tie against Russia to advance to the last eight, with the 40-year-old Lopez defying his years to come back from a set and beat world number five Rublev to beat the defending champions. Perfect start in Madrid.
Rublev scored his 50th win of the year the previous day, and Lopez won the match 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Medvedev settled any Russian nerve in the second singles rubber against Pablo Carreno Busta after a blistering start in the first set, taking a 4–0 lead in less than 11 minutes, before taking a 6–2 draw. Go ahead
The world number two played hard at number two, eventually coming through the tiebreak to win the match and taking the tie to the doubles decider, with Russia dramatically ending Spain’s hopes of retaining their title. fought a hard fight for
“We were very close but it wasn’t enough,” Lopez said. It is what it is and I don’t want to give any excuse. We showed everyone that we are ready to compete under any circumstances, even with so many issues that we have gone through. This is very disappointing. Germany topped Group F and after suffering a 2–1 success over Austria in the quarterfinals against Britain, Kevin Kravitz and Tim Puetz sealed their progress with a straight-sets victory in the final doubles decider. Gave. ,
Colombia’s 2–1 victory over the United States in Turin mattered little as they finished second behind Italy in Group E, unable to grab one of the best runners-up places, as the 32-time champions of the Americas. Got out with a whisper. Croatia, Kazakhstan and Britain advanced to the quarter-finals on Sunday after all three finished at the top of their respective groups, while 28-time champions Australia were knocked out.
Britain had a poor start against the Czech Republic as they were trying to top Group C. British number one Cameron Norie level and doubles pair Joe Salisbury and Neil Skupski managed to win, before Dan Evans lost his singles rubber against Tomas Machack. To take the tie 2-1 in straight sets and ahead of France to secure the top spot.
The first quarter-final gets underway on Monday, as Italy hosts Croatia in Turin, before Britain face Germany the next day in Innsbruck, Austria.
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