Spain beats Serbia, joins Poland in ATP Cup semifinals

Hubert Hurkacz beat Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-4 to secure Poland a spot in the semifinals of the ATP Cup. On the other hand, Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4 to secure a semifinal spot for Spain.

Published : Jan 05, 2022 12:08 IST

Hubert Hurkacz reacts during his group stage match against Diego Schwartzman. Hurkacz won 6-1, -4.

Hubert Hurkacz beat Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-4 to secure Poland’s victory over Argentina on Wednesday and a spot in the ATP Cup semifinals.

Poland finished the round-robin stage 3-0 in Group D, with wins over Georgia, Greece and in the top-of-the-table match against Argentina.

Kamil Majchrzak rallied twice from serve breaks in the second set before beating Federico Delbonis 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the opening singles match and No. 9-ranked Hurzacz clinched the semifinal spot with his win over of Schwartzman in the second singles encounter. Poland won the doubles to complete a sweep.

‘Proud’

“I’m so happy for our team. We’re in the semis, so super proud of that achievement,” Hurkacz said.

ALSO READ - Sabalenka loses her season-opening match to Kaja Juvan

“We have great team spirit. We support each other. I think the atmosphere that we bring helps us play better.”

 

Pablo Carreno Busta beat Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4 to secure an ATP Cup semifinal spot for Spain and Roberto Bautista Agut completed the group-stage victory over Serbia with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Dusan Lajovic later Wednesday in the second of the singles matches.

Spain only needed to win one of the three matches against Serbia to top Group A and set up a semifinal against Poland.

Carreno Busta got the job done in 80 minutes, registering his third singles win of the round-robin stage.

“It was the best match of the group,” Carreno Busta said in a post-match interview. “I am close to 100%. Today I played very well, very aggressively, very solid. I feel very comfortable on court, so it is going well.”

Spain dropped only one set on its way to victories over Chile, Norway and Serbia, the 2020 champions.

Chile’s 2-1 win over Norway meant Serbia needed to sweep Spain to advance. Alejandro Tabilo beat Viktor Durasovic 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1 to give Chile the lead before No. 8-ranked Casper Ruud levelled it for Norway with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Christian Garin.

Tabilo and Tomas Barrios Vera clinched the doubles 6-0, 6-4, giving Chile a 2-1 record in the round-robin stage and leaving Norway 0-3 after earlier losses to Spain and Serbia.

(With inputs from AP)