PARIS: Argentina edged Casper Ruud’s Norway 3-2 to seal their passage into the second round of Davis Cup qualifying on Friday.
In a tense tie in Oslo which had begun on Thursday world number five Ruud won both his singles matches but Mariano Navone’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Nicolai Budkov Kjaer late into the night knocked Norway out of the competition.
Over in Stockholm world number eight Alex de Minaur helped Australia to a 2-0 lead over Sweden.
De Minaur, a beaten quarter-finalist in the Australian Open, felled Mikael Ymer 7-5, 6-1 before Aleksandar Vukic got the better of Leo Borg, son of 11-time Grand Slam winner Bjorn Borg, 6-4, 6-4.
In Taiwan, the US claimed both the opening-day singles thanks to wins from Marcos Giron and Alex Michelson.
Britain and Japan are all square at 1-1 after day one in Miki.
Davis Cup debutant Jacob Fearnley defeated former world number four Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3 to level the tie after the home side’s Yoshihito Nishioka’s 7-5, 6-1 victory against Billy Harris.
Germany are on target for the next round, leading Israel 2-0 in their match which is being played in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Austria go into day two in control over Finland by the same margin.
Serbia, missing injured Novak Djokovic, are 2-0 up against Denmark, and the Czech Republic are also sitting pretty 2-0 in South Korea. Croatia are also 2-0 up against Slovakia.
Jannik Sinner’s Italy are the two-time defending champions having won the eight-team men’s event in Spain in 2023 and last year.
As a result Italy get a free pass to the final in Bologna in November.
The defending champions are taking over hosting duties from Malaga.
The 2024 runners-up the Netherlands get a bye to the second round of qualifying in September.
Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025