(Valencia) No Carlos Alcaraz, no problem for Spain.
Posted at 9:00 p.m.
In front of a home crowd in Valencia, Spain beat Serbia 3-0 in the Davis Cup on Wednesday to take the lead in their group.
The highest ranked player in the world, Alcaraz arrived in Valencia the day before. However, he does not participate in the first round, he who has just triumphed at Flushing Meadows. Alcaraz was still present for the national anthems, to the delight of the crowd.
Victorious in front of Casper Ruud in New York, Alcaraz thus became, at 19, the youngest player to lead the ATP ranking. This classification has existed since 1973.
Albert Ramos Viñolas beat Laslo Đere 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, then Roberto Bautista Agut won 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) against Miomir Kecmanović.
Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martínez beat Nikola Ćaćić and Dušan Lajović 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 in doubles to complete the sweep of Serbia, who are without Novak Djokovic. Granollers and Bautista Agut previously helped Spain win the Davis Cup in 2019.
Bologna in Italy, Hamburg in Germany and Glasgow in Scotland also hosted group stage matches ahead of the quarter-finals in Malaga in November.
In Group C in Hamburg, Germany secured their first victory over France since 1938. It was Jan-Lennard Struff who put Germany ahead with a 6-4, 2-6, 7- 5 at the expense of Benjamin Bonzi.
Adrian Mannarino netted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Oscar Otte, but Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz beat Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(1).
In Group D, in Glasgow, the United States got the better of the British. It was Tommy Paul of the United States who beat Dan Evans 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Cameron Norrie responded by beating Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5. Then Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury had to lose 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 to Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram.
The Americans will have the Kazakhs as their next rivals on Thursday, while England will face the Netherlands.
In Group A, in Bologna, Italy beat Croatia 3-0.
Lorenzo Mussetti defeated Borna Gojo 6-4, 6-2. Matteo Berrettini beat Borna Ćorić 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1, while Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli had the last laugh against Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić, 3-6, 7-5, 7 -6 (3).
Gojo, Mektić and Pavić were part of the Croatian team that lost to Russia in the final last year.
Croatia won the Davis Cup in 2018. Russia cannot defend their title, having been banned from international team competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine.