ROSARIO, Argentina — Argentina reached the Davis Cup Finals group stage by eliminating Kazakhstan 3-2 within the best-of-five-match qualifying spherical when Sebastian Baez erased two match factors and got here again to edge Dmitry Popko 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday.
Belgium, Chile, the Czech Republic and France additionally wrapped up victories Sunday.
Baez is a 23-year-old ranked a career-high No. 25 on the planet. He reached the third spherical of the Australian Open final month earlier than shedding to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Popko, 27, is ranked No. 338 and has failed in 16 makes an attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam event.
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Popko was in place to get Kazakhstan previous 2016 Davis Cup champion Argentina, only one level away from profitable whereas forward 6-4 within the concluding tiebreaker. However from there, Baez grabbed the match’s final 4 factors.
Belgium clinched its spot within the subsequent spherical with a 3-1 victory over Croatia that was sealed when Zizou Bergs beat Duje Ajdukovic 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday. Bergs additionally received the opening singles match Saturday towards 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic.
In Santiago, Chile, the hosts barely obtained previous Peru 3-2 when Alejandro Tabilo got here again to beat Ignacio Buse 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 within the deciding match.
The Czech Republic eradicated Israel 4-0, and France beat Taiwan by the identical rating.
Seven nations made it via qualifying in sequence that wrapped up Friday or Saturday: the US, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Netherlands and Slovakia.
The dozen nations that superior this week will be a part of reigning champion Italy, 2023 runner-up Australia, and wild-card entries Britain and Spain within the 16-team, four-city Finals group stage in September. Then eight of these groups will make it to the quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain, in November, when a champion will probably be decided.
One tier under, within the World Group I playoffs, India received 4-0 at Pakistan, whereas two-time Grand Slam runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas helped Greece get previous visiting Romania 4-0.
