By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday March 4, 2022
Sebastian Korda and Taylor Fritz put Team USA on the brink of victory against Colombia on Friday in Reno.
Photo Source: Mike Lawrence/USTA
A successful Davis Cup debut for Sebastian Korda and a victory in the nightcap from Taylor Fritz gave Team USA a 2-0 lead over Colombia in this weekend’s Davis Cup Qualifiers at Reno Events Center.
The Americans are one victory from qualifying for this year’s Davis Cup Finals - 12 ties are taking place across the globe this weekend to decide who will reach the finals. 16 teams will qualify for the group stage of this year’s finals, to be held across four cities on 14-18 September.
Korda topped Nicolas Mejia 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 for his first career Davis Cup win, the rising World No.40 cracking 13 winners to just 6 for Mejia (against 19 unforced errors).
“It's special. I grew up watching Davis Cup because my dad coached Radek Stepanek, and Davis Cup was one of the biggest things for him,” Korda said. “It was extremely special to have my debut and I win. It's truly special, especially playing a friend like Nico. We kind of grew up in juniors, we traveled. We practiced so many times. I knew his game, he knew my game. Just a lot of fun today. The crowd was just epic.”
Fritz breezed through his match, dropping just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 shellacking of Alejandro Gonzalez. The World No.20, who needed just 53 minutes to close out the contest, improves to 2-1 lifetime in Davis Cup singles matches.
Though the scoreboard doesn’t tell the story, Fritz has struggled playing at altitude in Reno.
“The ball has been flying for me all week a bit,” he said. “I feel like I can't sometimes... I don't know. If I add a little too much loft to the shots, it's going to be gone. I have to cover it a bit more. It's definitely helping my serve. That's nice.”
Americans Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram will take on Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in Saturday’s doubles match, which kicks off Day 2, and will be followed by both reverse singles rubbers. Team USA hopes to avenge last year’s loss to Colombia, which eliminated the stars and stripes from quarterfinal contention at the 2021 Davis Cup finals.
Sock is a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion; Ram is a two-time Slam champion. Cabal and Farah have won two major singles titles together and held the No.1 ranking.
Davis Cup around the World
Here is how the other 11 qualifier ties stand after Friday (and Saturday in Sydney, Australia and Seoul, South Korea).
France leads Ecuador, 2-0
Finland and Belgium are tied, 1-1
Netherlands leads Canada, 2-0
Slovakia and Italy are tied, 1-1
Norway and Kazahkstan are tied, 1-1
Argentina leads Czech Republic, 2-0
Spain leads Romania, 2-0
Brazil and Germany are tied at 1-1
Sweden and Japan are tied, 1-1
Australia and Hungary are tied at 2-2
South Korea leads Austria, 3-1