Slovakia qualified for the first time after Lukas Klein and Igor Zelenay clinched the decisive point in the Davis Cup Qualifier against last year’s Serbia. Klein and Zelenay beat Nikola Cakic and Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in the doubles match to give Slovakia an unassailable 3-0 lead. Serbia was playing without world number 1 player Novak Djokovic.
Klein and Zelenay came back from a break down to win the tie-break of the first set before winning the second set 6-3 after 1 hour and 38 minutes.
Before this year Slovakia had lost four consecutive matches in Qualifier ties.
In the first singles match Klein Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 on Friday.
Alex Molcan came back from one set down to beat Dusan Lajovic 4-6 6-2 6-0 after 1 hour and 35 minutes in the second singles match to give Slovakia a 2-0 lead. Molcan dropped just point on his first serve in the third set. Klein lost in the tie-break-break of the fifth set against Alexander Zverev at this year’s Australian Open.
“I am happy that we were able to win two matches today. We knew it was going to be tough against Serbians in their home match. I was a little bit nervous in the first set. I was hitting very short. I just was trying to hit the ball big and I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. In the second set I started to hit the ball deep in the court and that helped me a lot. Then I got the momentum until the end of the match, so I am really happy that I could win. I am also happy that Lukas won. I am proud of our team”, said Molcan.
Germany and the USA secure their spot in Davis Cup Finals
Three-time winners Germany won both of Saturday’s match to beat Hungary 3-1. German doubles specialists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat Fabian Maroszan and Mate Valkusz 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Jan Lennard Struff beat Valkusz 6-3 6-2 to secure the spot in the Davis Cup Group Stages.
Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat Ilya Beloborodko and Oleksi Krutykh 6-3 4-6 6-3 in the doubles match to earn the USA the decisive point for the USA against the Ukraine at the SEB Arena in Vilnius. The US team has secured its spot in next September’s Davis Cup Group Stage.
“I am proud of the guys. I love spending time with them. Great bunch of kids. They played great this week. The Ukrainians put up some resistance at times. They fought hard until the last ball, but our guys were solid, and they realy brought it. I thought that we played great tennis. Hopefully we can build on that this year and play well in the Group Stage, which was our hiccup last year. We got a great group of guys to choose from. We have guys that are excited to play Davis Cup and that’s the most important thing”, said US captain Bob Bryan.
