U.S. tops Belgium, clinches Davis Cup semi vs. Croatia
The United States is off to a perfect start in Davis Cup play this year, and the Americans now have to wait and see if they can continue this momentum when they play in the semifinals for the first time since 2012.
Ryan Harrison had the honors Sunday in Nashville, Tenn., wrapping up a 4-0 victory over Belgium in essentially an exhibition match with the U.S. already clinching a semifinal berth against Croatia on Sept. 14-16. Harrison, ranked 54th in the world in singles, beat Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes after the U.S. won the first three matches to improve to 5-0 all-time in Davis Cup play against Belgium.
“It’s one of the great challenges in Davis Cup in this current format is the momentum disappears because you don’t play again for months on end, so you have to recreate that momentum,” U.S. captain Jim Courier said. “As we get going toward the next time in September, it comes on the heels of the U.S. Open, so we’ll be leaving after the U.S. Open to go over to Croatia.”
That’s a long time between matches with three Grand Slams between now and then leaving open the possibility of injuries, which could affect the current roster of John Isner, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and Harrison.
Marin Cilic put away Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to send Croatia into the Davis Cup semifinals.
Cilic clinched the quarterfinal against Kazakhstan 3-1 on indoor clay in Varazdin, Croatia, after the two-hour match, the easiest of his three straight wins over Kukushkin.
Craotia, which has staged both of its ties this year, will also host the United States on Sept. 14-16, likely on clay. Croatia hasn’t lost a tie on clay in five years.
The Croatians have a 4-0 win-loss record against the Americans. They last met in the 2016 quarterfinals, en route to Croatia’s second final appearance. The national-record 36 Davis Cup match wins by Ivan Ljubicic, leader of the 2005 team which won Croatia’s only Davis Cup title, was equaled by Cilic.
Lucas Pouille kept his focus when Italy’s Fabio Fognini began throwing his racket in frustration during a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory that put France into the Davis Cup semifinals.
Defending champion France took an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-offive series iin Genoa, Italy.
Fognini threw his racket twice upon failing to take advantage of opportunities late in the third set.
On the first occasion, Fognini slammed his racket on the red clay court, then broke it clean in half across his knee.
A couple of points later, after Pouille saved three set points to even the set at 5-5, Fognini threw his racket into a courtside chair in the vicinity of a ball boy.
With Rafael Nadal nervously cheering courtside after winning his earlier match, David Ferrer sealed Spain’s 3-2 comeback win over Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Valencia, Spain, with a thrilling five-set victory against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands overpowered Germany’s Julia Goerges to cap a long day at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C., with a 6-2, 6-1 victory for her fourth career WTA title and third of the past 11 months.
No. 12 seed Bertens and fifth-seeded Goerges each had a pair of matches to play with rain washing out Saturday’s semifinals. Bertens had a grueling, three-setter to oust American Madison Keys while Goerges completed her match with Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.