Sept 11 (Askume) – The United States overcame the absence of several of its top singles players to beat Chile on Wednesday and open the group stage of the Davis Cup finals.
Reilly Opelka and Brandon Nakashima both secured victories for their teams after three sets in the first match of Group C in Zhuhai, China.
Olympic doubles silver medallists Rajiv Rahm and Austin Krajicek beat Matias Soto and Tomas Barrios Vera 3-0 to top the table with Germany.
Defending champions Italy, without world number one and recent US Open champion Jannik Sinner, made a positive start in their Group A opener against Brazil in Bologna.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz was shortlisted but world number three Tomas Machac had to retire from the match after losing the first set in a tie-break and winning the second set 6-1. The Spanish team leads the group 2-0 in Valencia. Roberto Bautista-Agut earlier beat Jiri Leca 7-6(1) 6-4.
US captain Bob Bryan couldn’t include players like US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe or Tommy Paul, but he showed his depth in the team.
Opelka, ranked 309 in the world, returned after wrist surgery to beat 116th-ranked Christian Garin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3), while the 40th-ranked Chinese player beat Alejandro Tabilo 7-6-6(5), 2-6.
Lahm and Krajicek still need to win three sets in the doubles, which would provide the perfect start for the 32-time Davis Cup champions as they try to reach the last eight for the second time since the new format was introduced in 2019.
“It’s a great day for both teams,” said Bryan. “Everyone showed a lot of courage and bravery. Hats off to the Chilean players.”
Four groups of four national teams will compete in four different cities: Zhuhai, Bologna, Valencia and Manchester. The top two teams from each group will advance to Malaga in the eight-nation knockout round.
Italian player Matteo Berrettini gave the team a good start by defeating Brazilian player Joao Fonseca 6-1, 7-6(5) and then Matteo Arnoldi defeated Thiago Monteiro 7-5, 6 in 3 hours and 39 minutes.
Great Britain have the advantage of home advantage against Finland in their Group D encounter in Manchester, with debutant Billy Harris included in the starting line-up while Dan Evans scored against Eero Vasa, who started the game.
Harris got his chance in the absence of British number one Jack Draper, beating Otto Virtanen 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Hari Hliovaara and Virtanen defeated Evans and Neal Skupski to win the Finnish doubles title.
On Tuesday, Australia defeated France in Group B, Germany defeated Slovakia in Group C, Belgium defeated Netherlands in Group A and Canada defeated Argentina in Group D.
