Davis Cup: a wrap

Just four of the world’s top 10 appeared in the first round of 2018 Davis Cup competition at the weekend.

Switzerland competed sans Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. Serbia forged on without Novak Djokovic. Andy Murray was on the sidelines while Great Britain took on the Rafael Nadal-less Spanish squad. Defending champs France had no Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lucas Pouille or Gael Monfils.

Many of these absences were injury-related. And yet the Davis Cup continued, with World Group first-round ties unfolding around the world, determining the eight quarterfinalists set to do battle in April. A tier below, zonal ties took place giving nations a shot at promotion to the World Group.

Perhaps Australia v Germany provided the most compelling action, with fifth-ranked Alexander Zverev leading the visitors to victory in Brisbane over an Aussie squad headed by Nick Kyrgios.

Zverev won the latest installment in a burgeoning rivalry with Kyrgios, the straight-sets win giving the Germans an unassailable 3-1 lead over the hosts. He now trails Kyrgios 2-3 in the head-to-head series, having earlier stopped Alex De Minaur in a five-set thriller on the opening day – another glimpse into the exciting future of the men’s game.

Germany will in the quarterfinals face Spain, who despite being without world No.1 Nadal were nonetheless ably carried by Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who won both singles rubbers to help Spain to a 3-1 win over Great Britain.

In Croatia, youngsters were also taking centre stage.

In the Next Gen battle between Borna Coric and Denis Shapovalov, Coric came away with a straight-sets victory to deliver the host nation a 3-1 win over Canada. Two days earlier, Coric defeated Vasek Pospisil in the opening rubber in another confidence-boosting performance.

Next up for Croatia is Kazakhstan, who overcame a depleted Swiss line-up 4-1 in Astana.

France and Belgium, last year’s finalists and the top two seeds in the World Group, both progressed to the quarterfinals.

In last year’s final, France was guided to victory by Pouille and Tsonga in singles, both of whom were missing from the weekend’s first-round tie against Netherlands. Richard Gasquet and Adrian Mannarino stepped into the void, with Mannarino rebounding from an opening-day defeat to post a five-set win over Robin Haase to seal victory for the defending champions.

World No.7 Goffin was again the hero for Belgium, winning both his singles rubbers to hand his country an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Hungary. Hungary closed the gap to 3-2 with victory in the dead fifth rubber.

In the quarterfinals, France plays Italy – a 3-1 winner over Japan – while Belgium tackles the USA.

The Americans were led to victory on clay in Serbia by Sam Querrey and John Isner – who won both their singles matches – before Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson combined in doubles to close the door on the hosts.

In the zonal rungs of the competition, world No.6 Dominic Thiem helped Austria to a 5-0 win over Belarus thanks to two singles victories; the Austrians next face Russia for a shot at the World Group Play-off stage in September.