Six teams seal victory in 2023 Davis Cup Qualifiers
- France, Great Britain, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and USA all advance to Davis Cup Finals Group Stage in September
The first six teams to progress to the 2023 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals Group Stage were confirmed on a thrilling day of Qualifiers action in the men’s World Cup of Tennis on Saturday.
USA were the first team to seal their place as they clinched a 4-0 clean sweep over Uzbekistan in Tashkent thanks to a 6-2 6-4 victory from Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek over Sanjar Fayziev and Sergey Fomin.
France then completed a stirring fight back from 1-2 down to beat Hungary. After doubles pair Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech had suffered a straight sets defeat to Fabian Marozsan and Mate Valkusz, it took impressive victories from Adrian Mannarino (7-6 6-2 over Marton Fucsovics) and Ugo Humbert (6-3 6-3 over Fabian Marozsan) to clinch victory.
Switzerland also came back from 2-1 down to stun hosts Germany in Trier. Stan Wawrinka sealed the win with a sensational 6-3 5-7 6-4 triumph over Daniel Altmaier to book his team a place in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage for the first time.
In Oslo, Serbia’s Nikola Cacic and Filip Krajinovic withstood a spirited challenge from Viktor Durasovic and Herman Hoeyeraal of Norway to claim a 6-4 3-6 6-3 win and an overall 4-0 whitewash.
Sweden survived a scare in Stockholm to eventually overcome Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1. Mirza Basic and Tomislav Brkic’s 6-4 6-2 doubles victory over Andre Goransson and Elias Ymer had halved the overnight deficit to 2-1, but Mikael Ymer held his nerve to win the decisive encounter with Damir Dzumhur 6-1 1-6 6-3.
Great Britain completed the day’s line up of winners with victory against Colombia in Cota. Dan Evans and Neal Skupski overcame Robert Farah and Juan-Sebastian Cabal 6-4 6-4 in the first match of the day, before Cameron Norrie sealed an impressive 3-1 triumph for the away team by beating Nicolas Mejia by the same scoreline.
The six successful nations will be joined in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage by 2022 winners Canada, 2022 runners-up Australia and wildcards Italy and Spain.
The last six teams to advance to the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage will be confirmed on Sunday 5 February, when the remaining Qualifier ties conclude. Croatia, Belgium, Netherlands and Czech Republic all lead 2-0 overnight, while the Finland v Argentina and Chile v Kazakhstan ties are both evenly poised at 1-1.
