Sebastian Korda gave the United States a 1-0 lead against Ukraine in Davis Cup qualifying by hitting six of his 16 aces in the last two games along the way to beating Oleksii Krutykh 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4 on Thursday.
Korda was down 2-1 in the third set before grabbing three consecutive games to move in front for good.
The No. 33 Korda — whose father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open and whose sisters, Nelly and Jessica, are professional golfers — is the lowest-ranked member of the American team. Krutykh is No. 342.
The second match of Day 1 was scheduled to be No. 32 Chris Eubanks against No. 498 Viacheslav Bielinskyi. Eubanks, who is from Atlanta and played college tennis at Georgia Tech, took the place of an injured Taylor Fritz, who was ruled out because an injured right hip.
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The best-of-five-match series is being held on indoor hard courts at SEB Arena in Lithuania because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022.
The 12 winners from this round, which concludes on Sunday, will advance to the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, along with reigning champion Italy, 2023 runner-up Australia, and wild-card entries Britain and Spain.
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