Bergs seals Belgium win against Croatia in Davis Cup Qualifiers

Paul Zimmer/ITF

An inspired Zizou Bergs defeated Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic to claim the decisive point that confirmed Belgium’s qualification for the 2024 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage in September.

Bergs has enjoyed an exceptionally productive week in Varazdin with this his second singles victory of the tie coming hot on the heels of his opening day success against former World No. 3 Marin Cilic.

In many respects that win set the tone for the Belgian performance, and even though they were pegged back yesterday as Ajdukovic dispatched Joris de Loore in the second singles, they were not to be denied.

It was Bergs, who until this week had lost five of the seven Davis Cup matches he had contested, that administered the knockout blow, with his 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ajdukovic sending Belgium to the Finals for the third time.

Brilliant Belgium ✨

Booking their spot in the #DavisCup Group Stage Finals 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/xxwTGgWHHx

— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 4, 2024

The foundations for Belgium’s triumph were laid earlier in the day by Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen’s stunning victory over Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic in the doubles. Gille and Vliegen recovered from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). The Belgian duo defeated two players who have six Grand Slam doubles titles between them and it paved the way for Bergs to haul his nation over the finish line.

By stepping out on court, Dodig moved level with Ivan Ljubicic in second place on the all-time list for most Davis Cup ties played by a Croatian player. However, it is unlikely to be a match he remembers fondly as Gille and Vliegen triumphed.

Mahut/Roger-Vasselin book French finals ticket
Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin secured the crucial third point to send France through to September's Finals Group Stage. They beat Hsu Yu Hsiou and Jason Jung 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(1) in front of a packed and vocal home crowd at the Taipei Tennis Center in Taipei City.

"We played a very good team," Roger-Vasselin said. "They started better than us. We managed to stay calm and positive. At the end it was a fight - we are really happy with the win."

"They played really much better than their rankings and they had great support from the crowd," added Mahut. "Our positive attitude helped us to win the match."

Back in familiar territory ✨

France move on to the #DavisCup Group Stage Finals after a stellar weekend in Taipei City 🏙️@FFTennis pic.twitter.com/DvfcyJKYnn

— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 4, 2024

The French pair built on first-day wins from 19-year-old Luca van Assche, who beat Hsu 6-4, 6-4 on his Davis Cup debut, and from the experienced Adrian Mannarino, who claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Wu Tung-Lin.

"I'm very happy with the win today," Van Aasche said after his match. "It was an amazing feeling to play my first match with the French team. I'm just very happy to have won the first point for France."

Ten-time Davis Cup winners France have placed third in the Finals Group Stage in the previous two years, missing out on a place in the quarter-finals. Sunday's win gives them another shot at making the Final 8 in November.

Czechs ease to finals spot in Trinec
Czechia has beaten Israel 3-0 in its 2024 Davis Cup Qualifier to secure its passage through to September’s Group Stage Finals for the second straight year.

Much of the work was done in the singles by Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik on Saturday, and the tie ended in unfortunate circumstances on Sunday when Israel’s doubles pair of Daniel Cukierman and Edan Leshem had to retire when trailing Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 1-4.

Even without Cukierman’s injury, Israel were facing a huge uphill battle on Sunday, knowing they had to win all three matches to progress, and they were on the back foot from the start against Machac and Pavlasek.

“From the beginning we played really well”, said Machac. “We played really well at the Australian Open, both of us, and we wanted to continue this here which we did. I would like to wish Dani a speedy recovery. This kind of ending is not nice. I don’t feel emotions now.”

Ticket secured 🎟️🇨🇿

Czechia claims their place in the Davis Cup Group Stage Finals for a third time ✨#DavisCup | @jsmeceskytenis pic.twitter.com/WQSH267R51

— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 4, 2024

Czechia has a proud record in team competitions in both men’s and women’s events, with their name engraved on the Davis Cup trophy on three occasions, most recently with back-to-back triumphs in 2012 and 2013.

Led by the experienced Jaroslav Navrartil as captain, this side reached the quarter-finals in Malaga last year for the first time since 2016, and they will head to September’s Group Stages full of confidence.

Baez clinches victory for Argentina
Argentina clawed their way back from the brink of a shock defeat against Kazakhstan to seal a memorable win on Sunday in their Davis Cup Qualifier.

After two days of high drama and surprising results in Rosario, the visitors found themselves holding two match points as they appeared to be ready to pull off a major shock against a powerful Argentina side.

In a deciding match between World No. 25 Sebastian Baez and World No. 338 Dmitry Popko, the Kazakhstani team marshalled by captain Yuri Schukin took a 6/4 lead in the final-set tie-break. But Baez battled back and won four straight points to spark euphoric celebrations, notching a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(8) victory to extend Argentina's winning run in home Davis Cup ties to six.

"This weekend was amazing and not just for me," said Baez. "It was special to be with the guys in the team, my people and my family. I'm happy to take Argentina to the Davis Cup Finals in September."

Vamos Argentina! 🇦🇷💪

They book their place in the Group Stage Finals and extend their winning streak in Davis Cup home ties to 6️⃣!#DavisCup | @AATenis pic.twitter.com/65Uobk1jSO

— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 4, 2024

Earlier on Sunday, the host nation's doubles pairing of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni won a tense encounter to give their team a lead against battling Kazakhstan. After a sluggish start, the Argentina pair found their touch against Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Popko to seal a 6-7(5) 6-4 6-0 victory.

Kazakhstan's Timothy Skatov then forced a deciding rubber by backing up his pervious win against World No. 28 Tomas Martin Etcheverry by beating the top-ranked Argentina player Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(1) 6-4.

The No. 278 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings had just one win against a player ranked in the Top 100 prior to this weekend's Davis Cup Qualifier, with that coming against Andreas Seppi in an ATP Tour match on home soil in 2021.

"I am really happy with my performance today," said Skatov, a former junior World No. 1. "Playing against a guy another guy who is Top 30 in Argentina and with the team 2-1, there was some pressure. I wanted to give a chance to my team to keep playing."

Kazakhstan did keep playing, but there could be only one winner — and thanks to Baez's heroics, it was Argentina.

Tabilo completes Chilean Comeback in Santiago
World No. 54 Alejandro Tabilo withstood an explosive start from teenage Peruvian Ignacio Buse to seal Chile's dramatic come-from-behind victory in the Davis Cup Qualifiers tie in Santiago on Sunday.

After Peru clinched the doubles to take a 2-1 lead early on Day 2, the visitors were poised to snap a four-tie losing streak against their border rival and qualify for the Davis Cup Finals for the first time. But the host nation hit back as World No. 20 Nicolas Jarry equalised with a straight-sets win over Juan Pablo Varillas before Tabilo rallied to beat Buse 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and send Chile back to the Davis Cup Finals for the third time.

Chileeeee 🇨🇱🇨🇱

Tickets booked to the Davis Cup Group Finals 🎟️✅#DavisCup | @Fetech_cl pic.twitter.com/gf1eGP2KSE

— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) February 5, 2024

Defying a vociferous Santiago crowd, 19-year-old Buse, ranked No. 438, looked set to back up his shock win over Jarry on Saturday when he raced through the first set against Tabilo, who last month won the ATP 250 title in Auckland. But danger of defeat only motivated Chilean fans to cheer louder as they willed Tabilo back into the match.

The left-hander made 19 unforced errors to Buse's six in the first set, but in a match that was never going to be decided by winners, Tabilo made just 20 unforced errors to Buse's 38 in the final two sets to give Chile its 10th consecutive victory on home soil, closing out the match with his 14th ace.

Chile reached the Davis Cup Final in 1976, falling to Italy. Peru was contesting their first Qualifier tie since the current format was introduced in 2019.

Earlier in the day Jarry sent the tie to a deciding fifth match after a commanding 6-2, 6-4 win over Varillas.

Jarry seized control of the match from the outset, breaking in the first and third games. He claimed the decisive break in the fifth game of the second set and never gave his opponent a look on his own serve, not facing a break point of his own throughout the match.

Jarry closed out the match with his eighth ace and after having won 24 of 25 points on his first serve.

Peru took a 2-1 lead in the tie earlier Sunday when Arklon Huertas del Pino Cordova teamed with his brother Conner Huertas del Pino to defeat Tabilo and Tomas Barrios Vera.

Peru last defeated Chile in 1994 during an Americas Group 1 tie in Lima.