Argentina beats Casper Ruud’s Norway in Davis Cup qualifying

Argentina beats Casper Ruud’s Norway in Davis Cup qualifying

Argentina edged Casper Ruud’s Norway 3-2 to seal its passage into the second round of Davis Cup qualifying on Friday.

In a tense tie in Oslo which had begun on Thursday world number five Ruud won both his singles matches but Mariano Navone’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Nicolai Budkov Kjaer late into the night knocked Norway out of the competition.

Over in Stockholm, world number eight Alex de Minaur helped Australia to a 2-0 lead over Sweden.

De Minaur, a beaten quarterfinalist in the Australian Open, felled Mikael Ymer 7-5, 6-1 before Aleksandar Vukic got the better of Leo Borg, son of 11-time Grand Slam winner Bjorn Borg, 6-4, 6-4.

In Taiwan, the United States claimed both the opening day singles thanks to wins from Marcos Giron and Alex Michelson.

Britain and Japan are all square at 1-1 after day one in Miki.

Davis Cup debutant Jacob Fearnley defeated former world number four Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 to level the tie after the home side’s Yoshihito Nishioka’s 7-5 6-1 victory against Billy Harris.

Germany is on target for the next round, leading Israel 2-0 in their match which is being played in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Austria goes into day two in control over Finland by the same margin.

Serbia, missing injured Novak Djokovic, is 2-0 up against Denmark, and the Czech Republic is also sitting pretty 2-0 in South Korea. Croatia is also 2-0 up against Slovakia.

The ties between Brazil v France, Chile v Belgium, Switzerland v Spain, and Canada v Hungary, begin on Saturday.

Jannick Sinner’s Italy are the two-time defending champions having won the eight-team men’s event in Spain in 2023 and last year .As a result, Italy gets a free pass to the final in Bologna in November. The defending champion is taking over hosting duties from Malaga.

The 2024 runner-up the Netherlands get a bye to the second round of qualifying in September.This weekend’s first round features 26 teams competing in 13 ties.

Each tie consists of two singles matches on day one, and a doubles match followed by two singles matches on day two . The 13 winners will advance to the second round.

The Davis Cup was first held in 1900 making it the longest running international men’s team event in sport.