Argentina Secures Spot in Davis Cup Finals
MANCHESTER, England – Argentina has secured a place in the eight-team Davis Cup Finals with a thrilling 3-0 victory over Finland on Saturday. This achievement marks Argentina’s advancement to the quarter-finals in Málaga, Spain, for the first time in five years.
Following an initial defeat to the defending champions from Canada, the Argentine players fought back in Group D with a victory over host nation Great Britain on Friday, before overcoming a resilient Finnish team that reached the semifinals last year but played without its top player.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry opened the match by defeating the 703rd-ranked Eero Vasa with a score of 7-6 (5), 6-3. Francisco Cerundolo then battled Otto Virtanen in an intense three-set match, which concluded with scores of 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0. Argentina needed to win the doubles match to secure overall victory, and Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni delivered by overcoming Patrick Kaukovirta and Harri Heliövaara with a score of 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.
The result means that Great Britain must defeat Canada 3-0 on Sunday to advance at Canada’s expense. In Bologna, Brazil achieved a 2-1 victory over Belgium after previous losses to Italy and the Netherlands in Group A. The victories came from three-set wins by João Fonseca and Thiago Monteiro, although a loss in the doubles match took over six hours to complete on the carpeted court.
Brazil still has a chance to advance; the Netherlands must lose to the undefeated defending champions from Italy by 3-0 on Sunday. Related to this tournament, the USA secured a seeding in the finals by defeating Germany 2-1, thereby taking first place in Group C without any losses. Both teams had already qualified for the finals, but the USA secured the seeding designated for group winners.
Reilly Opelka saved two match points to win against Henri Squire with a score of 6-7 (4), 7-6 (9), 6-3, while Brandon Nakashima easily defeated Maximilian Marterer with a score of 6-4, 6-2. The Americans lost their first point in nine matches when Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram were defeated by Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz with a score of 6-1, 7-6 (4).
“We have a good chance against any team there (in Málaga),” said Nakashima. “There are many talented Americans playing really well right now.” In Group B in Spain, we saw a tie between two teams that were already out of contention, where the ten-time champions from France defeated the three-time champions from the Czech Republic with a score of 2-1, secured by a win in doubles.