Schwartzman bounces back to seal Argentina's place in Davis Cup qualifiers

[September 20, 2021] 

(Reuters) - Diego Schwartzman shrugged off a surprise defeat in his opening match to ease Argentina into the 2022 Davis Cup qualifiers on Sunday, sealing the winning point against Belarus.

The world number 15 was beaten by junior player Daniil Ostapenkov in Saturday' opening match but rebounded on Sunday to beat world number 1,233 Alexander Zgirovsky 6-1 6-2.

Argentina had forged 2-1 ahead by winning Sunday's doubles rubber as Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez were made to work hard by Ostapenkov and Erik Arutiunian, winning 5-7 6-2 6-2.

The South Americans will now go forward to the qualifiers in February hoping to seal their place in the 2022 Finals, having appeared in the inaugural edition in 2019.

"I don't know if it was revenge, because it didn't erase what happened to me on Saturday," Schwartzman said. "But I enjoyed winning the final point."

The Netherlands also made it through to next year's qualifiers as they won their World Group I tie against Uruguay.

Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop sealed their passage with a doubles win against Ignacio Carou and Martin Cuevas, giving the Dutch an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Diego Schwartzman of Argentina hits a forehand against Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands (not pictured) on day seven of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Brazil are also through to the qualifiers after seeing off Lebanon.

This year's Davis Cup Finals will take place in Madrid, Turin and Innsbruck in November with the two finalists automatically qualifying for the 2022 Finals.

The other 16 teams will enter the qualifiers along with the teams progressing from World Group I.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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