Argentina lost 2-0 to Russia on Tuesday in the duel that marked their debut in the Melbourne ATP Cup, after defeats by Guido Bella to Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman against Daniel Medvedev, and when the group list is still standing. Series D completes a doubles match.
Bella of Bahia, 44th in the ATP World Ranking, opened the series between the Argentines and the Russians with a final loss to Andrei Rublev (8), 6-1, 6-2 in a specific hour of play, then Small Schwartzman (9) lost to Medvedev (4) 7-5, 6-3 after one hour and 40 minutes of play.
The third point of the already set series will be played by Argentine Horacio Zebalos and Maximo Gonzalez against Russians Aslan Karatsev and Evgeny Donskoy.
Schwartzman fought off Medvedev, still at his sweeping level since last year. Photo: AFP
Argentina’s next participation in the group will be on Thursday from 3:30 (ARG) against Japan, the team led by Ki Nishikori (41) who will make his debut in the tournament tomorrow against Russia, the favorite.
The champion of the first edition of the ATP Cup, the one considered aperitif from the Australian Open, was the first major tournament of the year played as of Monday 8 February in Melbourne, is Serbia in 2020.
The Balkans, led by world number one Novak Djokovic, are once again favorites and in Group A, along with Germany and Canada.
For its part, Spain is participating in Group B with Greece and Australia, although it was not in its first match with Rafael Nadal (2), due to severe back pain, and was replaced by Pablo Carreno Busta (16), who beat local John Melman (38) 6-2 , 6-4.
Nadal, who suffers from back pain, missed Spain’s first ATP Cup appearance Photo: EFE
Later, Roberto Bautista Agut gave the Spaniard the victory by defeating Alex de Minor 4-6 6-4 6-4.
Finally, Group C consists of Austria, led by Dominic Thiem (3), Italy and France.
The tournament will distribute $ 4,500,000 in prizes and be played in four groups from three countries each, in a free-to-all format with two singles and one doubles matches. The top four from each region will qualify for the semifinals on Friday and the final match will be held on Saturday.
