UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, AND GREAT BRITAIN AMONG WINNING COUNTRIES DURING WILD DAVIS CUP TENNIS FIRST ROUND

Written by: Staff on 8th February 2017

UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, AND GREAT BRITAIN AMONG WINNING COUNTRIES DURING WILD DAVIS CUP TENNIS FIRST ROUND

epa05772531 General view of the Fraport Arena during the singles match between Germany's Alexander Zverev and Belgium's Steve Darcis at the Davis Cup World Group first round tie between Germany and Belgium in Frankfurt Main, Germany, 05 February 2017. EPA/JOERG HALISCH |

By Ricky Dimon

Everyone knows to expect the unexpected in Davis Cup, and the opening weekend in 2017 was certainly no exception. The defending champions and 2016 runner-ups both lost in the first round, a loaded German team fell at home to an undermanned Belgian squad, and the Great Britain vs. Canada tie ended in positively bizarre fashion.

Argentina, which rode Juan Martin Del Potro to the Davis Cup title last fall, came out on the short end of a thriller against Italy. Playing with home-court advantage on the red clay of Buenos Aires, the Argentines almost mounted a miraculous comeback. They lost each of the first two singles rubbers and were one point away from a 3-0 overall defeat during the doubles match. But Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer stormed back to beat Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolleli in five sets. Berlocq then won a singles five-setter over Paolo Lorenzi to force a decisive fifth rubber between Fognini and Guido Pella.

Argentina came tantalizingly close to completing the comeback, as Pella led Fognini two sets to love on Monday. But Fognini somehow recovered for a 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory that sent the visitors through to the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Next up for the Italians is Belgium, which went into Germany and pulled off a 4-1 stunner. The Germans had Alexander Zverev, Mischa Zverev, and Philipp Kohlschreiber at their disposal but still could not get past a Belgian team that did not have David Goffin. Already a Davis Cup hero of sorts, Belgium’s Steve Darcis won two singles matches–first over Kohlschreiber in a fifth-set tiebreaker and then the clincher over the younger Zverev brother in a fourth-set ‘breaker.

Another quarterfinal will pit the United States against Australia.

Both nations had no trouble cruising through their respective openers by 3-0 scorelines. Team USA whitewashed an overmatched Swiss side, while the Aussies rolled over the visiting Czech Republic.

No tie–perhaps ever–ended in more bizarre fashion than Great Britain vs. Canada. In the decisive fifth rubber, 17-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov was defaulted in the third set for blasting a ball in frustration that traveled right into the chair umpire’s eye.

Shapovalov trailed Kyle Edmund by two sets to love and had just been broken at 1-1 in the third set. He clearly had no intention of hitting umpire Arnaud Gabas, but Gabas proved to be the ball’s target.

“I went back and spoke to the referee and apologized directly to him,” Shapovalov explained later. “Luckily he’s OK, but obviously it’s just unacceptable behavior from me. To be honest, I just feel incredibly ashamed and embarrassed and I just feel awful for letting my team down and my country down for acting a way that I would never want to act. I can promise that that’s the last time I will do anything like that.”