2024-09-14 03:01:00
The Davis Cup, the most important team tournament in the world of tennis, changes the mood from one moment to the next. A match, a victory, a defeat or a misfortune can change the panorama completely. The captain’s changes Guillermo Coriawhich had failed in the strategy during the 2-1 defeat in the debut against Canadamade Argentina go through from death to hope in just a handful of days.
The national team was obliged to defeat Great Britain, on the second date of zone D of the group stage at the AO Arena in Manchester, on an indoor hard court, for maintain the hope of qualifying among the top two teams that will get a ticket to the quarter-finals in Malaga, which will host the decisive instance in November.
The captain’s hand, which had accumulated some errors in strategic terms, gave the necessary fruits to feed the dream: Tomás Etcheverry (34th) came in, replacing the number one of the squad Sebastián Báez (26th)and occupied the second single, while Francisco Cerúndolo (31st) became the first racket of the formation. The result? They both won and sentenced the series against the British, away and in adverse conditions.
At the opening of the day Etcheverry overcame some initial moments of nervousness and He unblocked the development to win a great match by 6-2 and 7-5 against the experienced Daniel Evans, in which It represented the first victory for the 25-year-old from La Plata in cup matches based on points.
Next Cerúndolo, perhaps the most explosive of today’s Argentine tennis players, He showed his potential top 10 form and beat Jack Draper, the local star, 7-6 (4) and 7-5.brand new number 20 in the ATP rankings and recent semi-finalist at the US Open – he had rested in the first series against Finland.
Later Argentina He missed a feasible chance to seal the 3-0 and add one more point in a possible tiebreaker in the fight for qualification: without the world number one doubles player Horacio Zeballosestranged from the captain after his absence from the Olympic Games, the duo formed by Andrés Molteni (30th) and Máximo González (34th), who had discounted in the first series with the Canadians, They fell 6-3 and 7-5 against the pair of Neal Skupski and Evans himself.
Argentina will play its third and final group series this Saturday against Finland, which arrived in Manchester without Emil Ruusuvuori, their best racket, and they have lost both of their matches so far this week: 2-1 against the British and 3-0 against Canada. Once the group’s activity has finished -Canada and Great Britain will face each other on Sunday-, The two best teams will qualify for the final phase in November in Malaga – from the quarter-finals onwards.an event in which Argentina has not participated since the 2019 edition.
The national team’s chances of returning to the top eight teams in the world remain intact. If they manage to win against the Finns and Canada beats the British, then Coria’s men will get a ticket to Malaga. In the event of a home team victory, there would be a three-way tie and other factors would come into play: Number of matches, sets and games won.
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