Wang Yeu-tzuoo narrowly beat Gouichi Motomura yesterday to give Taiwan a victory over Japan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I playoff.
Wang cruised past Motomura 7-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-5, 7-6 in a close match that lasted four hours and 15 minutes.
It was Wang's first victory in the event.
In reverse singles, Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan defeated Takao Suzuki of Japan 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6. It was Lu's second victory since he defeated Gouichi Motomura in the opening singles match.
Spain was ousted from the Davis Cup on Saturday, just two days into its title defense.
The defending champions were playing without three of their top players, and even the appearance of teenage star Rafael Nadal wasn't enough as Slovakia won the doubles match to take an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Australia and Argentina also advanced to the quarterfinals Saturday.
Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak, playing doubles together in the Davis Cup for the first time, beat Albert Costa and Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (8) at the National Tennis Center in Bratislava to give Slovakia the unlikely win.
"We are all heroes," said Beck, who also won the opening singles match on Friday.
The last time Slovakia made it this far was in 2000, when it lost to Brazil 3-2.
"The Spaniards fought hard, which is not seen often," Slovakia captain Milos Mecir said. "I have said that Rafael Nadal is a great personality who does not give up, which makes our victory even more precious."
Spain, which beat the US to win its second Davis Cup just three months ago, was playing without Carlos Moya, Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Moya said he was skipping the event to concentrate on Grand Slam events, while Robredo and Ferrero are injured.
Nadal, the youngest player to have won the Davis Cup, was dropped from Friday's singles by captain Jordi Arrese, partially because he had little time to practice on the fast indoor court.
"They played better in the key points," Arrese said. "We tried to do our best, we're proud of what we did, but they were better."
Slovakia will meet the winner of the Switzerland-Netherlands first round match. The Dutch lead 2-1 despite losing Saturday's doubles. Yves Allegro and George Bastl beat Dutch duo Dennis van Scheppingen and Peter Wessels 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 9-7.
Australia advanced with a 3-0 win over Austria. Veterans Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge beat Austria's Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
They'll meet Argentina in the next round, who beat Czech Republic 3-0 in Buenos Aires.
David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas edged Tomas Zib and Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
"I felt we were better than them all the way through and managed their service games well," Nalbandian said.
In Moscow, Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny beat Fernando Gonzalez and Adrian Garcia 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 for a 2-1 lead over Chile.
"We have just played today as we should have played. We did not want to struggle on the court for a long time and tried to gain the advantage quickly. And we succeeded," Safin said.
Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra beat Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 to put France ahead of Sweden 2-1 in Strasbourg, France.
Belarus took a 2-1 lead over Romania when Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov beat Andrei Pavel and Gabriel Trifu 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
RSS