Sydney (AFP) – John Isner and Taylor Fritz defeated Canadian rivals on Sunday to give the United States a 2-0 lead on day two of the 16-team ATP Cup.
In another series on Sunday, defending champions Russia got off to a good start when Roman Sveolin edged out Frenchman Arthur Renderknisch 2-6 7-5 6-3.
Isner beat Brayden Schnur 6-1 6-4 in 66 minutes to put the United States ahead. Schnur came on at the last minute as a replacement for Denis Shapovalov, who was disqualified from the series’ first singles match due to exhaustion. The Canadian is recovering after contracting COVID-19 at a tournament recently held in the Middle East.
Fritz then mustered one set to win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 over Felix Auger-Aliassime to secure the series before facing the doubles.
In nighttime clashes, Italy meets Australia and Germany meets Great Britain.
Greece on Saturday missed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is recovering from an elbow injury, in the singles matches when they fell to Poland on the first day of the tournament. On the same opening day, Argentine Diego Schwartzman and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut led their team to comfortable victories.
He ruled out Tsitsipas, fourth in the world, shortly before meeting Hubert Hurkacz, the ninth in the world who beat substitute Aristoteles Thanos 6-1 6-2 to give Poland an unbeatable 2-0 lead. Hours before Kamel Majsherzak beat Mikhail Pervolarakis 6-1 6-4
Tsitsipas noticed from the team bench, with a snowpack on his right elbow, Hurkacz beat Thanos, who is 1076th in the standings.
Greece took its solace when Tsitsipas joined Pervolarakis in the doubles to defeat Simon Woko and Jan Zielinski 6-4, 5-7, 10-8.
Tsitsipas underwent surgery in November and there are fears he could suffer a setback ahead of this month’s Australian Open.
“My recovery from my elbow surgery is in order, and today was just a precaution to make sure I make it to Melbourne,” Tsitsipas admitted. “We’ll see day by day, meet up to a meeting until then.”
For their part, Argentina defeated Georgia 3-0, while Spain, without Rafael Nadal, easily beat Chile by the same margin in the tournament held in various stadiums in Sydney.
Schwartzman, ranked 13th in the world rankings, beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1 6-2 after his compatriot Federico Delbonis beat Alexandre Mitrivili by the same score to give Argentina a 2-0 lead in singles matches.
Máximo González and Andrés Molteni completed a 3-0 sweep of Argentina with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Georgian duo Saba Bertsiladze and Zora Tekimaladze in the doubles match.
Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta put his team ahead 1-0 after recovering from deficits in both groups in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over Chile’s Alejandro Tapelo.
Roberto Bautista Agut was in fine form as he beat Cristian Garin of Chile 6-0, 6-3 to crown the sweep of Spain on opening day.
Alejandro Davidovich Fochina and Pedro Martinez secured a sweep of Spain 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-7 over Tomas Barrios Vera and Tapelo.
Serbia, lacking world number one Novak Djokovic, started the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Norway. Filip Krajinovic did double duty – teaming with Nikola Kasic to defeat Casper Ruud and Viktor Durasovic 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the crucial doubles match after Serbia and Norway won in the singles,
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