Cameron Norrie defeated Nicolás Barrientos this Friday 6-2 and 7-5 to even the series 1-1 between Colombia and Great Britain in the Davis Cup.
The efficiency of Norrie, currently ranked 11th in the ATP, was evident from the first ball, despite the efforts of Barrientos, 510 in the ranking of professional tennis players.
Forced serving, parallel balls and climbs to the mesh sealed the first set 6-2 in favor of the British who did not give the locals a chance to play their game.
For the second set, Norrie, who hit 10 aces in the game, tried to shorten the match, but Barrientos used his pride and gave him a war until the game was 5-5. He had chances to win but failed to close the points.
In the end, Norrie, exhausted -the game was played in Cota, which is 2,566 meters above sea level- raised his arms in victory, after a 7-5 win, in a game that lasted 71 minutes.
First thing in the morning, against all odds, Nicolás Mejía defeated Dan Evans 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4a victory that gave Colombia an advantage over Great Britain.
The task began well with Mejía taking advantage of the clay court to spin the balls which quickly gave him a lead which he sealed 6-2, amidst the applause of the crowd.
Evans recovered in the second set where he showed a game where he combined his serve and good closing points for 6-2 in his favor.
In the final period, the visitor started better with a serve that gave them the points to advance. However, the Colombian narrowed the gap and saved points, destroying Evans, who is currently in box 30 in the ATP rankings.
Averaging the set, the force was even as the scoreboard was 4-4, although in sections the Colombian seemed to have the better physical arrest.
To this it was added that Evans committed two double faults which cost him the gamein front of an audience that celebrated his representative’s 6-4 victory.
The series continues this Saturday in the doubles game where visiting team captain Leon Smith lines up Evans with Neal Skupski to face Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah, a clash that has all the makings of a Grand Final. Slam, for the tour of pairs in ATP tournaments.
Singles matches will star Mejía against Norrie, and then Barrientos against Evans.
The winner of the series will earn a spot in the group stage of the Davis Cup finals in September.
In other qualifiers, Alexander Zverev defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-1 on Friday and managed to level the series against Switzerlandbecause in the first match Marc Andrea Huesler defeated Oscar Otte in three sets (2-6, 6-3 and 6-4).
Zverev, fourteenth in the ATP rankings, managed to break the veteran Swiss player’s serve twice and give up his serve only once, thus managing to take the opening set after an hour-long match. It was easier in the second, where he was solid on his serve and a few breaks were enough to close out the win in a set that lasted just 37 minutes.
Hungary and France also tied at 1, while USA, Belgium, Serbia and Sweden lead 2-0 against Uzbekistan, South Korea, Norway and Bosniarespectively.
Davis cup
Ranked
Hungary 1-1 France
Uzbekistan – United States 0-2
Colombia 1-1 Great Britain
Norway 0-2 Serbia
South Korea 0-2 Belgium
Sweden 2-0 Bosnia Herzegovina
The
TheThey start on Saturday:
Croatia – Austria
Chile – Kazakhstan
Netherlands – Slovakia
Finland-Argentina
Portugal – Czech Republic
Source: La Verdad
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