LONDON — Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek clinched a spot for america in the Davis Cup Finals group spherical by successful the doubles match towards Ukraine on Friday for an insurmountable 3-0 lead within the best-of-five-match qualifying collection in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Ram and Krajicek beat Illya Beloborodko and Oleksii Krutykh 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The Individuals personal a mixed 5 Grand Slam titles between them and every has been ranked No. 1 in doubles.
Their victory adopted a profitable opening day of singles for captain Bob Bryan’s U.S. crew on Thursday, when Sebastian Korda defeated Krutykh 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4 and Chris Eubanks changed an injured Taylor Fritz within the lineup and overwhelmed Viacheslav Bielinskyi 6-3, 6-2.
Ukraine was alleged to host america for these qualifying matches. However they had been moved to an indoor onerous courtroom at SEB Enviornment in Lithuania due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which started when Russia invaded in February 2022.
“We all know it’s the hardest state of affairs they may very well be in at house, so the very fact they got here out and competed as onerous as they did says so much about who they’re,” Ram mentioned in regards to the Ukrainians.
The Individuals superior to the subsequent spherical for the fifth consecutive time underneath the present Davis Cup format, however they’ve solely then made it to the quarterfinals as soon as in that span, in 2022. The nation has gained a document 32 titles within the males’s crew competitors, most lately in 2007, when Bryan was on the roster.
The 12 winners from this week’s spherical, which concludes on Sunday, will be a part of reigning champion Italy, 2023 runner-up Australia, and wild-card entries Britain and Spain within the Finals group stage in September. Then eight groups will make it to the quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain, in November, when a champion will likely be decided.
Six matchups started Friday and can wrap up Saturday: Slovakia at Serbia (which is with out No. 1 Novak Djokovic); South Korea at Canada; Germany at Hungary; Switzerland at Netherlands; Portugal at Finland; and Brazil at Sweden.
Qualifying matches that will likely be performed Saturday and Sunday: Belgium at Croatia; Israel at Czech Republic; France at Taiwan; Kazakhstan at Argentina; and Peru at Chile.
