Davis Cup 2024 Group Stage Results: Carlos Alcaraz, Matteo Berrettini give Spain, Italy winning starts, USA battle past Chile | Day 2, September 11
The group stages of the 2024 Davis Cup final rounds are underway from September 10 to September 15. The top 16 nations have qualified for the finals stage and will battle each other in a team-format event, to win the biggest and most prestigious international trophy in tennis for their countries.
Day 2 of the event saw some prominent players take center stage. World No. 3 and 4-time Major champion, Carlos Alcaraz was in action for Spain against Czech Republic, as was Matteo Berrettini for Italy.
Let us look at the results from day 2 at the 2024 Davis Cup
Italy, Spain, and USA make winning starts
Defending Champions Italy started their Finals campaign without two of their key players who were instrumental in last year's victory, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti. However, they were able to make a winning start against Brazil.
Matteo Berrettini faced off against former Junior World No. 1 and Junior US Open champion, Joao Fonseca. Despite getting a 6-1 drubbing in the first set, the Brazilian teenager gave a tough fight to the Former Wimbledon finalist in the second set. However, the Italian kept his composure and won the first set in a tiebreaker. Eventually, he won the match in straight sets 6-1, 7-6(5).
This match was followed by a three-and-a-half-hour contest between Thiago Monteiro and Matteo Arnaldi. Despite winning 9 points less than his Brazilian opponent, Aranaldi emerged victorious in three sets 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5).
Brazil got a victory in the doubles tie as the pair of Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo defeated the much higher-ranked Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavssori in three sets.
Spain started their campaign with a 3-0 victory over Czech Republic. Roberto Bautista Agut registered a comfortable straight victory over Jiri Lehecka. The second match saw Carlos Alcaraz square off against Tomas Machac. The Czech player stunned the Spaniard in the first set, winning it in the tiebreaker.
However the World No.3 quickly recovered, and won the second set 6-1. The match could not reach its climax as Machac retired at the start of the third set, handing the victory to Spain.
Alcaraz put in a double shift for his country as he then partnered up with World No. 1 doubles player Marcel Granollers and won the doubles tie against the pair of Jakub Mensik and Adam Pavlasek, in 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(2).
32-time champion USA started their 2024 Finals campaign with a 3-0 win over Chile. However, all three matches in the tie were extremely close and went the full distance of three sets.
In the first match, Reilly Opelka served an astounding 27 aces in his three-set match against Christian Garin. Despite winning three points less, the big-serving American won the game 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3).
A similar tight three-set contest was seen between Brandon Nakashima and Alejandro Tabilo. Like the first match, the American player won less points than his Chilean counterpart, but won 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (3).
In the final match of the tie, the Olympic silver medallist team of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek won a hard-fought match against the team of Tomas Barrios Vera and Matias Soto 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Davis Cup Finals 2024 Group Stage: Day 2 Results at a glance
Italy def. Brazil 2-1
Spain def. Czech Republic 3-0
United States def. Chile 3-0
Great Britain def. Finland 2-1