Atp Cup: Tsitsipas tormented by the elbow. Successes for Spain and Serbia

At midnight the new year started and so did the Atp Cup with eight national teams who opened the dance at the first event of the season in Sydney, on the concrete of Ken Rosewall Arena and Qudos Bank Arena. Group A and Group D are busy, with the match of the day scheduled for the evening session between the Top 10 Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz. Too bad that the Greek had to postpone his return, at least in singles, due to elbow problems that have been tormenting him for months and for which he was forced to undergo an operation in November. “The recovery is proceeding smoothly,” Tsitsipas said so as not to alarm fans. “My retirement was only a precautionary step in view of the Australian Open (January 17-30, ed). Until then we will see how it proceeds. We will take things for the day, match after match “.

Group D

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The absence of n. 4 in the world in singles influenced the performance of Greece, defeated 2-1 by Poland. In the first game Kamil Majchrzak trimmed a peremptory 6-1 6-4 to Michail Pervolarakis while Hubert Hurkacz gave Thanos no chance with a 6-1 6-2. Surprisingly, Tsitsipas made his appearance in doubles alongside Pervolarakis, dragging Greece towards the point of hope by beating Hurkacz and Zielinski (6-4 5-7 10-8). In the day session, however, everything was easier than expected for Argentina who trimmed a clear 3-0 to Georgia. The two singles decided the challenge in a short time with Delbonis (n. 44 Atp) who inflicted a quick 6-1 6-2 on Metreveli, while Diego Schwartzman got rid of Nikoloz Basilashvili with the same score. Finally, the doubles players Gonzalez and Molteni took care of definitively archiving the practice by imposing themselves on the Purseladze-Tkemaladze tandem, with a further 6-1 6-2.

Group A

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Despite the absence of Rafa Nadal, Spain managed to make their weight felt by wiping out Chile 3-0. The Iberians’ campaign was inaugurated by Pablo Carreno Busta, executioner of Alejandro Tabilo for 6-4 7-6 (4). Merciless Roberto Bautista Agut who left only three games at no. 17 of the Cristian Garin ranking (6-0 6-3). The double of Fokina and Martinez struggled more, postponed to the super tiebreak by Barrios-Vera and Tabilo (7-6 4-6 10-7). Serbia is struggling, orphaned by the other big player Novak Djokovic, avoiding a sensational comeback by Norway. In the first singles to win was Filip Krajinovic against Durasovic (6-3 7-5). Casper Ruud, executioner of Lajovic 6-3 7-5, then thought about restoring the balance. To decide the outcome of the last match of the day was the double Cacic-Krajinovic who gave the Serbs the point of 2-1 (b. Durasovic-Ruud 7-6 (3); 6-3).

Italy tomorrow

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On Sunday 2 January the expedition of the Italian national team will be inaugurated, committed to defending the final reached last year against Russia. The Azzurri captained by Vincenzo Santopadre will challenge the home favorites of Australia: we start at 7.30 (Italian time) with all the matches of Italy that will be broadcast in clear and exclusive on the channel of the Supertennis Federation, 64 of the digital terrestrial and 224 by Sky. It will also be possible to follow the matches in streaming on PCs and portable devices by connecting to the official SuperTennis tv website.