Defending champ France advances in Davis Cup

[February 05, 2018]  Defending champion France advanced to the Davis Cup tennis quarterfinals by defeating the Netherlands 3-1 on Sunday at Halle Olympique in Albertville, France.

After a surprising first-day loss, Adrian Mannarino outlasted Robin Haase in five sets in reverse singles to give the French an insurmountable lead. The score was 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-7 (2), 7-5.

Mannarino lost on Friday to Thiemo de Bakker, ranked 369th in the world.

"That does feel very good after Friday, which was a really tough one," Mannarino said. "The emotions in this match were so, so different to what we have on the Tour. Having my teammates cheering so much for me meant I could fight point after point. No matter what the score was, I had to give it my all. I was maybe a little bit lucky to finish 7-5 in the fifth, but I'm so happy to have this moment."

Next up for the French is a trip to Italy for April's quarterfinals.

"I haven't been on a tennis court there since my own playing days," French captain Yannick Noah said. "They're a tough team and the Italian crowd are very passionate about the Davis Cup. I will look forward to it."

Italy advanced to the final eight for the fifth time in six years by virtue of a five-setter of its own to begin reverse-singles play in Morioka, Japan. Fabio Fognini defeated Japan's Yuichi Sugita 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in a four-hour match.

"I think this was the toughest Davis Cup tie I've played," Fognini said after leading his team to a 3-1 victory. "I was really tired coming from Melbourne, hot conditions, to here where it's cold and snowing. I played with my heart. Now it's time for recovery and then we will think about the quarterfinal when we are close to it."

Fognini had given Italy a 1-0 lead on Friday, with a five-set defeat of Taro Daniel. He then teamed up with Simone Bolelli against Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama on Saturday to secure Italy's second point.

Fognini nearly melted down in the fourth set Sunday. Angered by an out call on his serve, he unleashed a lengthy tirade at the chair umpire and slammed his racket into the post supporting the net. He smashed his racket into the ground twice shortly afterward as Sugita capped a rally from 0-3 to make it 3-3 in the set.

Fognini saved a match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker, which he won 8-6.

 

"Fognini played singles and doubles the first two days. Today he was already tired and not sure to play ... but he's a really great player, the perfect player for Davis Cup," said Italian captain Corrado Barazzutti.

Elsewhere:

-- Spurred on by a crowd chanting his name, Belgium's David Goffin secured victory for the host nation with a 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over Hungary's Marton Fucsovics.

The outcome advanced Belgium into the quarterfinals against the United States in April. Belgium was the 2017 tournament runner-up.

Goffin broke Fucsovics' serve at 6-5 in the first set to get started on his way to victory in two hours, 35 minutes in Liege, Belgium.

Belgium's final margin of victory was 3-2 after Hungary's Zsombor Piros scored a 6-3, 7-6 (3) triumph against Julien Cagnina in the fifth match, which was shortened to best-of-three since the outcome had already been decided.

-- Spain and Germany will meet in the quarterfinals by virtue of 3-1 victories over Great Britain and Australia, respectively.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain defeated Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in Marbella, Spain.

Germany's clincher came courtesy of Alexander Zverev's 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 rout of Nick Kyrgios in Brisbane, Australia.

-- Kazakhstan, which had clinched a day earlier, wrapped up a 4-1 win over Switzerland by splitting the reverse singles in the friendly confines of the National Tennis Centre in Astana, where it is 9-1 in the Davis Cup since 2008.

Kazakhstan's opponent in the quarterfinals will be Croatia, a 3-1 winner over Canada. The clinching point came from Borna Coric in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Denis Shapovalov.

--Field Level Media

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