VILNIUS, Lithuania — Chris Eubanks stepped in as a late alternative for an injured Taylor Fritz and joined Sebastian Korda in incomes singles victories on Thursday to present america a 2-0 lead towards Ukraine in Davis Cup qualifying.
The No. 32-ranked Eubanks, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist final 12 months, made his Davis Cup debut and defeated No. 498 Viacheslav Bielinskyi 6-3, 6-2 with the assistance of a 15-6 edge in forehand winners. That got here after No. 33 Korda hit six of his 16 aces within the final two video games and beat No. 342 Oleksii Krutykh 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
“I began off actually nervous. I have been fairly nervous all day since I discovered I used to be going to play,” mentioned Eubanks, who’s from Atlanta and performed faculty tennis at Georgia Tech. “However once I acquired out on courtroom, issues calmed down, and I really feel like I performed a very excessive degree.”
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Fritz, the highest-ranked American man at No. 9, was dominated out hours earlier than play started due to an injured proper hip.
Korda was down 2-1 within the third set earlier than grabbing three consecutive video games to maneuver in entrance for good. His father, Petr, gained the 1998 Australian Open and his sisters, Nelly and Jessica, are skilled golfers.
The US can clinch a spot within the subsequent spherical by successful Friday’s opening match. That’s slated to be Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for the U.S. towards Vitaliy Sachko and Illya Beloborodko for Ukraine in doubles.
One of the best-of-five-match sequence is being held on indoor onerous courts at SEB Area in Lithuania due to the continuing struggle in Ukraine, which started when Russia invaded in February 2022.
The 12 winners from this spherical, which concludes on Sunday, will advance to the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, together with reigning champion Italy, 2023 runner-up Australia and wild-card entries Britain and Spain.
Different matchups this week: Slovakia at Serbia (which is with out No. 1 Novak Djokovic); Georgia at Lithuania; South Korea at Canada; Belgium at Croatia; Germany at Hungary; Switzerland at Netherlands; Israel at Czech Republic; Portugal at Finland; France at Taiwan; Kazakhstan at Argentina; Brazil at Sweden; and Peru at Chile.
