Davis Cup 2022: Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Norway star Casper Ruud shine, Uzbekistan stun Japan
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Updated 17/09/2022 at 20:41 GMT
Davis Cup World Group action continued on Saturday with star performances and shock upsets. Felix Auger-Aliassime led Canada to the knockout stage with a straight sets win over Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic. Casper Ruud inspired Denmark to thrash India, while Croatia advanced at Argentina's expense, and the Dutch beat the United States to top their group.
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A busy day of Davis Cup action saw eliminations, advancements, expected results and shock upsets.
Felix Auger-Aliassime secured Canada's place in the knock-out rounds with a strong performance, beating Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-4.
Despite FAA's win, Canada lost the tie and top spot in the group when Vasek Pospisil retired hurt from the doubles after just three games against Serbia’s Kecmanovic and Filip Krajinovic.
After his retirement, Pospisil admitted that the week had taken its toll.
He said: "Definitely pushed the body to the limit in both days that I played. According to preliminary tests, I will probably have to take several weeks off. It's a reality. It's unfortunate.
"But we qualified, so it's amazing. It's a great week for the team and for me and for everyone involved. It's an amazing memory. For myself, I just hope I can recover as quickly as possible and be ready for the Tour and be ready for Malaga.”
Uzbekistan pulled off a major upset, beating Japan as Sergey Fomen won his singles match, while Sanjar Fayziev and Denis Istomin took out the doubles.
Croatia beat Argentina 3-0, with world No. 164 Borna Gojo upsetting No. 37 Sebastian Baez in three sets. Borna Coric kept the party going with a win over Francisco Cerundolo. Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic made it a clean sweep for Croatia with a doubles win over Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos.
The win over Argentina puts Croatia on track for the final eight, but they face a nervous wait with Sweden still to face Italy on Sunday.
Despite the absence of Marin Cilic, Croatia also beat Sweden earlier in the week, though they did lose 3-0 to Italy.
Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen as France signed off strongly, but defeats against Australia and Germany earlier in the week had already ruled out their hopes of advancing.
After the win, Rinderknech said: "Finishing with a win is always better. This week really hurt, and every tie was really hard on us mentally. We had match points in both and didn't get the wins."
The Netherlands sealed top spot in Group D with singles wins for Botic van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor over American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul respectively.
The United States are already assured of advancing in second place in their group.
Norway thrashed India 3-0 with world No. 2 Casper Ruud leading the way. Ruud combined with Viktor Durasovic to beat Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni in the doubles.
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