Quarter final day at the ATP cup 2020 and all 8 qualified teams would assemble in Sydney. All the matches would be played at the Ken Rosewall arena. The 1st day of the quarter-finals saw 4 teams slog it out among and among 2 would make it to the next round and the other 2 were to exit the tournament. Let’s take a look at the 1st four quarter finals of the ATP cup 2020.
Australia Beat Britain 2-1
In the day session it was the home team that would go against Britain. Nick Kyrgios opened the account for Australia with a dominant win over Cameron Norrie. The talented Australian who is often accused to not taking his game seriously looks to have invented his focus in the tournament. He looked determined from start to finish and rattled Norrie with a combination of drop shots, underarm serves and exceptional deceptive skills. A straight sets victory by Kyrgios would provide team Australia an early cushion.
The Brits however were not to go down without a fight. Dan Evans defeated Alex de Minaur in 3 tight sets to put his team back on level terms. It was now for the doubles match to decide the fate of this entertaining contest.
In the doubles Aussie Captain Lyeton Hewitt made a last minute surprising choice by dropping the original pair and choosing his 2 best singles players Kyrgios and Di Minuar to do the job. They would take on the experienced British doubles pair of Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury. The Brits took the 1st set after coming back from a break down.
Kyrgios and Di Minuar were too determined to give this up. They rallied hard to win the 2nd set and then also registered win in the closely fought 3rd set giving the home team a much needed victory. Thus it was Australia who would emerge as the first semi-finalist of the tournament. They would now wait for Friday results before taking on the winner between Spain and Belgium in the semis on Saturday.
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Russia Beat Argentina 3-0
In the 2nd contest of the day Russia’s Karen Khachanov started with blistering form. In about an hour and a half, the tall Russian dispatched Argentina’s Guido Pella in straight sets. The 2nd set was decided by a tie breaker. The strong Russian side thus had an early advantage.
Diego Schwartzman was not left with a big ask on his shoulders. He had to defeat Daniil Medvedev who is the form of his life and put Argentina back on level terms. This however seemed more difficulty when Medvedev took the 1st set.
Schwartzman fought hard to take the 2nd set and now the match would be decided by a one set shootout. The Russian Number 1 Medvedev however this time looked far more focused as he handed a 6-3 defeat to the Argentine Number 1 Schwartzman and thus took his team to the semis.
The contest was already won by Russia but the formality of the doubles match had to be completed. The Russian duo of Gabashvili and Kravchuk then defeated the Argentine duo of Gonzalez and Molteni to make it a clean sweep. Russia would now await the winner of Friday’s quarterfinal between Serbia and Canada before taking to the court on the semi-final Saturday.