Poland's Hubert Hurkacz argues a call while playing Georgia's Aleksandre Metreveli during their match at the ATP Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) |
Robert Bautista Agut clinched the match for Spain by beating
Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 7-6 (4) after Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Viktor
Durasovic 6-3, 6-3.
Bautista Agut improved to 9-2 in singles at the team event.
“Casper is playing unbelievable tennis, (he did) an
unbelievable performance last year, and today I played very good,” Bautista
Agut said in his on-court interview. “I returned very well, I made very few
unforced errors and I played aggressively.”
Kamil Majchrzak gave Poland the early lead over Georgia with
a 6-1, 6-1 win over Aleksandre Bakshi before Hubert Hurkacz clinched it with a
6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 win over Aleksandre Metreveli.
“He (Metreveli) played well in the first set and things were
not going my way. But I got better with each set and am happy to get the win,”
Hurkacz said.
Argentina defeated Greece as Federtico Delbonis beat Michail
Pervolorakis 7-6 (5), 6-1 and Diego Schwartzman came from behind for a 6-7 (5),
6-3, 6-3 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The three sides then completed their victories by winning
their doubles matches.
Poland and Argentina will play for a pot in the semifinals
when they meet in their final group game on Wednesday.
Majchrzak needed only 53 minutes to beat Bakshi.
“I was trying to move (Bakshi) around and I think that was
the key to the match,” said Majchrzak, who is coached by former world
seventh-ranked Joakim Nystrom.
“He brings me a lot of confidence and a lot of calm in my
tennis so I can feel that I am improving,” Majchrzak said of Nystrom on the ATP
Tour’s website. “We are working on (developing an all-court game) but in a way
that doesn’t interrupt my baseline game. We will take it from the practice to
the matches but it takes time.”
Chile remained in contention for a semifinal place with a
2-1 victory over Serbia.
Filip Krajinov put Serbia in front by beating Alejandro
Tabilo 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) only for Chile to pull even when Dusan Lajovic retired
in the third set of his match with Cristian Garin.
That set up the deciding doubles match where Tabilo and
Tomas Barrios Vera beat Nikola Cacic and Matej Sabanov 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
“It was a great match with Krajinovic and I just needed to
find the motivation again, once Cristian won his match,” Tabilo said after his
doubles win.
The result left both teams with 1-1 records heading to
Wednesday’s final group matches, where Chile takes on Norway and Serbia faces
Spain.
The four group winners in the 16-team tournament advance to
the semifinals on Friday and Saturday, with the winners meeting in the final on
Sunday.