Argentina secured a unassailable 2-0 lead over Chile in their opening group stage tie of the revamped Davis Cup in Madrid on Tuesday, courtesy of spotless performances in their singles matches.
The International Tennis Federation has faced criticism for meddling with the partisan atmosphere generated by the “home and away” format and replacing it with a soccer World Cup-style format featuring 18 nations, in one city, battling over seven days to be crowned champions.
But the Argentina supporters in their blue and white stripes packed the Centre Court and cheered almost every point as Guido Pella eased past Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-4 6-3 in the opening match.
Diego Schwartzman then produced a ruthless display to beat Cristian Garin 6-2 6-2, ensuring the 2016 champions started the campaign with a convincing victory in Group C.
“It’s the end of the season but I think I played one of the best matches for sure of the year, maybe in my career,” said Schwartzman.
“I think Guido helped me a lot to be more confident in this match and I played unreal tennis.”
Top seeds France, bidding to win their 11th Davis Cup title, avoided a big upset with a narrow victory over Japan in their opening match.
The French made a bright start as the experienced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga raced to a 6-2 6-1 victory over Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Japan, who have arrived without the injured Kei Nishikori, roared back into the encounter with a surprise victory as Yoshihito Nishioka overcame Gael Monfils 7-5 6-2, sending the contest to a deciding doubles rubber.
French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who didn’t have much time to adjust to the conditions after winning the ATP Finals in London on Sunday, and found themselves a set down before recovering to beat Uchiyama and Ben McLachlan 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 7-5.
Kazakhstan defeated Holland 2-1 in Group E as Davis Cup veteran Mikhail Kukushkin produced a clinical display to beat Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2 6-2.
Robin Haase dragged the Dutch team back into the contest with a clutch display in the final set tiebreak to beat Alexander Bublik 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-5) to send the tie to a deciding doubles rubber.
But there Bublik gained revenge over Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer alongside Mikhail Kukushkin.
