Canada punch ticket to Davis Cup quarter-finals
paris: Canada clinched their place in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Saturday thanks to Felix Auger-aliassime’s win in singles, while Croatia improved their chances of reaching the last eight with a 3-0 sweep of Argentina.
Auger-aliassime backed up his defeat of new world number one Carlos Alcaraz with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, although Serbia won the tie 2-1 in Valencia to keep their own hopes alive.
Serbia’s Laslo Djere downed Gabriel Diallo 6-2, 6-2 in the opening singles match before Augeraliassime’s win guaranteed Canada a top-two finish in Group B. Kecmanovic and Filip Krajinovic led Vasek Pospisil and Alexis Galarneau 2-1 in the first set of the doubles before a knee injury forced Pospisil to retire. The Spaniards swept Serbia before losing 2-1 to Canada, while the South Koreans have lost their first two ties.
Last year’s runners-up Croatia whitewashed Argentina to boost their prospects of reaching the quarter-finals from Group A, where they have won two of their three ties. Borna Gojo edged Sebastian Baez in three sets before Cincinnati Masters champion Borna Coric got the beter of Francisco Cerundolo, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) in Bologna.
Matepavicandnikolamekticeasedpastmaximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos in the doubles.
The Netherlands wrapped up first place in Group D with a third straight win ater defeating the United States 2-1 in Glasgow.
Botic van de Zandschulp won his third singles match of the week, his 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Taylor Fritz securing the tie for the Dutch ater Tallon Griekspoor saw off Tommy Paul 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock claimed the doubles inthreetightsetsagainstwesleykoolhofandmatwe Middelkoop. France defeated Belgium 2-1 to bow out of the competition with a consolation victory.
Richard Gasquet downed 268th-ranked Michael Geerts 6-3, 6-3, but Belgium pulled level as David Goffin beat Benjamin Bonzi in three sets.
RYBAKINA REACHES PORTOROZ FINAL: Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina swept past Ana Bogdan in straight sets to reach the final of the WTA tournament in Portoroz on Saturday.
The 25th-ranked Kazakh eased through 6-1, 6-1 against the 65th-ranked Romanian to reach her third final of the season. Rybakina will bid for her second title of the year and the fourth of her career, against Czech Katerina Siniakova who defeated Anna-lena Friedsam of Germany 6-1, 7-5.
Rybakina lost the final in Adelaide to Australian Ashleigh Barty, before her surprise Grand Slam success in July against Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon.
The third seed got off to a difficult start in Slovenia needing 3hr 20min to dispatch 173th-ranked Laura Siegemund in the first round.
CZECH YOUNGSTER FRUHVIRTOVA WINS CHENNAI OPEN: Seventeen-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic overcame Poland’s Magda Linete to win the Chennai Open in her first WTA Tour-level final on Sunday.
Linete, 30, ranked number 67 in the world, took the first set 6-4 in the sweltering Indian heat but Fruhvirtova won the second 6-3 and came from behind to clinch the decider 6-4.
In the semi-final in Chennai, she came back from one set down to beat Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.