(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski edged past Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) to give Great Britain a 2-1 victory over France and secure a place for the British in Davis Cup Final 8 on Sunday in Manchester, England.
Evans and Skupski saved four match points in their comeback victory, giving Great Britain a 3-0 record in Group B and avoiding a potential three-way tie at 2-1 that would have favored Australia and France.
The Final 8 are now complete: Defending champions Canada and Italy made it out of Group A in Bologna, Italy. Great Britain and Australia will advance from Group B. The Czech Republic and Serbia got out of Group C in Valencia, Spain, and Finland and the Netherlands got out of Group D in Split, Croatia.
The Davis Cup group games took place Tuesday through Sunday in four cities across Europe. The top two teams in each round-robin group advanced to the knockout stage on November 21-26 in Malaga, Spain.
Evans gave Great Britain a 1-0 lead over France by rallying past Arthur Fils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Ugo Humbert of France then defeated Cameron Norrie 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 to set up the doubles winner.
Italy beat Sweden 2-1 to take second place in Group A. Matteo Arnaldi beat Leo Borg 6-4, 6-3 and Lorenzo Sonego topped Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-4 to beat Italy. Sweden’s Filip Bergevi and Andre Göransson won the doubles match 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 over Simone Bolelli and Lorenzo Musetti.
In Group C’s match, Spain defeated South Korea 2-1 in a matchup of two already eliminated nations. Bernabe Zapata Miralles beat Seongchan Hong 6-4, 7-5. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina topped Soonwoo Kwon 6-4, 6-4. Jisung Nam and Minkyu Song took revenge, winning the doubles match 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 10-8 over Marcel Granollers and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Croatia rallied to beat the Netherlands 2-1 in Group D. The Dutch struck first as Botic van de Zandschulp beat Duje Ajdukovic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Croatia equalized when Borna Gojo beat Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4. In doubles, Croatia’s team of Ajdukovic and Mate Pavic beat Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 3-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Final position in the group stage (overall record, individual match record):
Group A
1. Canada, 3-0, 8-1
2. Italy, 2-1, 5-4
3. Chile, 1-2, 4-5
4. Sweden, 0-3, 1-8
Group B
1. Great Britain, 3-0, 6-3
2. Australia, 2-1, 6-3
3. France, 1-2, 5-4
4. Switzerland, 0-3, 1-8
Group C
1. Czech Republic, 3-0, 9-0
2. Serbia, 2-1, 6-3
3. Spain, 1-2, 2-7
4. South Korea, 0-3, 1-8
Group D
1. Finland, 2-1, 6-3
2. Netherlands, 2-1, 5-4
3. Croatia, 1-2, 4-5
4. United States, 1-2, 3-6
–Field Level Media
Source: sn.dk