(Reuters) – The United States swept Uzbekistan aside with a 4-0 victory to qualify for the Davis Cup Finals group stage on Saturday, while the Ymer brothers guided Sweden to a 3-1 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
With 24 nations competing in the qualifiers this weekend, the 12 winning teams will qualify for the Davis Cup Finals group stage in September alongside 2022 champions Canada and runners-up Australia. Spain and Italy both received wildcards.
Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul had given the Americans a 2-0 lead on Friday before the doubles pairing of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat Sergey Fomin and Sanjar Ayziev 6-2 6-4 to give them un unassailable lead.
Denis Kudla then stepped on court for his Davis Cup debut in the third singles rubber to beat Amir Milushev 6-4 6-4 to seal a 4-0 victory for the record 32-times Davis Cup winners in Tashkent.
“I was excited to see Raj and Austin play today. They’ve practised well all week, they had five great days of preparation and as anticipated they came out really sharp,” U.S. captain David Nainkin said.
“As anticipated they came out really sharp and got the early break in the first set. After that it was like two freight trains, there was no stopping them.”
In Stockholm, Swedish brothers Mikael and Elias Ymer each won their singles rubbers in straight sets but Bosnia clawed one point back in the doubles when Mirza Basic and Tomislav Brkic got them on the board.
But Mikael then saw seven-times champions Sweden through with a 6-1 1-6 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur where he fired 22 winners in the third singles match.
“I’m super, super proud (of our team). It’s fantastic that me and my brother and the team could get us through to the finals again. And I’m already looking forward to the finals,” Mikael said.
“I think we have proven that we can compete with the best teams in the world and I think we are all ready for it.”
France came back from 2-1 down against Hungary to win 3-2 as Adrian Mannarino and Ugo Humbert turned things around in the second batch of singles rubbers, beating Marton Fucsovics and Fabian Marozsan respectively in straight sets.
“I’m very happy that we’re in the Finals. Playing in Davis Cup means a lot for me because it’s an unbelievable competition and I’m very proud of myself today,” said debutant Humbert, who had also won his first singles rubber on Friday.
Serbia also qualified after Nikola Cacic and Filip Krajinovic won their doubles match 6-4 3-6 6-3 against Norway to give their team a 3-0 lead. Serbia eventually won 4-0 after Hamad Medjedovic won his singles match.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
