Davis Cup, Spain orphaned by Carlos Alcaraz beats Czech Republic painfully

Spain is the third national team to qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals, following the successes of Belgium and Italy on the previous two days at the Super Tennis Arena in BolognaFiere. It was by no means a walk in the park for the team led by non-player captain David Ferrer who, after losing the first singles match and winning the second, prevailed in a very balanced doubles match that lasted just over two hours.

The day had started badly for the Spaniards, with Jakub Mensik leading the Czech Republic thanks to a 7-5, 6-4 win inflicted on Pablo Carreño Busta. In the next match, however, Jaume Munar overpowered Jiri Lehecka (19 places ahead of him in the rankings) 6-3, 6-4, making the doubles decisive.

The Spaniards fielded Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez, while Czech captain Tomas Berdych relied on Tomas Machak and Jakub Mensik.

Both sets played ended in a tie-break, with the first two winning, after 125 minutes of play, by the score of 7-6(8), 7-6(8), thus giving Spain the decisive point.

There is therefore only one quarterfinal remaining, that between Argentina and Germany, also scheduled for Thursday. Argentina, captained by Javier Frana, fields Francisco Cerundolo, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Francisco Comesaña, Horacio Zeballos, and Andres Molteni, while German captain Michael Kohlmann’s call-ups are Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Yannick Hanfmann, Kevin Krawietz, and Tim Pütz.