Day 6 at the ATP cup and the race to book the spot n the quarterfinals was well and truly on. Some upsets and post match scoring maths would then send Belgium and Canada as the lucky runner ups into the knockout stage. Let’s look back at the matches on all 3 venues in the final day of the Round Robin stage of the tournament.
Serbia Beat Chile 2-1
In Brisbane the day session started with the Serbs Dusan Lajokic and Novak Djokovic gave their side an ideal start by winning both their singles matches against Chilean players Nicolas Jarry and Christian Garin in straight sets.
The Serbs who had already booked themselves the quarterfinal would then lose the doubles match with the Chilean pair of Jarry and Tarbilo defeating the Serb duo of Viktor Troicki and Nikola Cacic for a consolation win.
South Africa Beat France 2-1
In the evening session South Africa and France came face to face with Giles Simon beating Lloyd Harris in the first singles match. Kevin Anderson however put his side on level terms doing the same to Benoit Paire in 3 sets.
The South African pair of Klaasen and Reolofse however scored the victory in doubles thus putting their team in the winning column.
Spain Beat Japan 3-0
In Perth Spain and Japan met in the day session with the former looking to finish the group stage without losing a match while the later needing to do well to book a place in the knockout stage. Roberto Bautista Agut who is looking in his career best form crushed Go Soeda in the opening match in straight sets while Rafa Nadal would overcome some great resistance by Yoshihito Nishioka. Both the singles matches were won in straight sets.
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The Spanish pair of Pablo Carrero Busta and Rafael Nadal would then win the doubles match in 3 sets. This was the only set that the strong Spanish side lost in the Round Robin. They would go to Sydney as the best team of the tournament while the Japanese were shown the exit route from the tournament.
Georgia Beat Uruguay 2-1
In the evening session at Perth Georgia and Uruguay who were both already out of the tournament met. In the 1st singles match Georgia’s Aleksandre Metreveli defeated Franco Roncadelli in straight sets. Nikoloz Basilashvili would then beat Pablo Cuevas to give Georgia the 2nd singles victory.
The Uruguay pair of Aleksandre Metreveli and Aleksandre Bakshi would however give their side a doubles win by beating Pablo Cuevas and Ariel Behar in straight sets.
Poland Beat Austria 2-1
In Sydney Austria and Poland would collide in the morning session. In the 1st singles match Poland’s Kacper Zuk would his side on front by beating Denis Novak in 3 sets after coming from behind the first set loss. The Poles would then get another singles victory with giant killer Hubert Hurkacz beating Dominic Thiem in another 3 set match after losing the 1st set.
Austria who had not been at their best in the tournament won their doubles match with Marach and Melzer beating the Polish pair of Kubort and Hurkacz in 2 straight sets. Both team however had no chance of going to the knockout stage.
Argentina Beat Croatia 3-0
In the evening session in Sydney Argentina met Croatia with both sides needing to win the match in order to book themselves a quarterfinal spot. The Argentines got early advantage with Guido Pella beating Marin Cilic in straight sets. This was then followed by a master class from Argentine Number 1 Diego Schwartzman who beat Croatia’s Borna Coric in 2 convincing sets.
The Argentines would then go for a clean sweep with Maxima Gonzalez and Andres Molteni beating the Croat duo Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektik in 3 sets. Argentina had now topped the group and thereby gifted themselves a ticket to the knockout stage.