Jiri Lehecka downed Learner Tien in a deciding rubber as the Czech Republic stunned the United States 3-2 in Davis Cup qualifying for a second straight year, while South Korea reached the last eight for the first time on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Czechs knocked out the Americans at the same second qualifying round stage in a deciding rubber in Delray Beach a year ago, when Jakub Mensik<\/a> beat Frances Tiafoe<\/a> to secure a surprise victory.<\/p>\n Tomas Berdych’s men repeated the feat in similarly dramatic fashion, to the delight of a raucous home crowd in Prague, as Lehecka<\/a> clinched a 6-3, 7-5<\/a> win over world number 13 Tien<\/a>.<\/p>\n The USA are record 32-time winners of the competition but their wait for a first title since 2007 goes on.<\/p>\n The Czechs advance to the November eight-team finals in Bologna, where hosts Italy will bid for a fourth straight title.<\/p>\n After starting the day locked at 1-1, the USA nudged ahead as Christian Harrison<\/a> and Austin Krajicek<\/a> saved four match points to outlast Adam Pavlasek<\/a> and Patrik Rikl<\/a> in a thrilling 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(8)<\/a> win.<\/p>\n Mensik then fought back from a set down to keep the tie alive by defeating recent US Open runner-up Ben Shelton<\/a> 5-7, 6-4, 6-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shelton took a tense first set after saving a set point when trailing 5-4, reeling off the last three games.<\/p>\n Mensik created a set point at exactly the same stage of the second, but this time made no mistake with a booming forehand to level the match.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old, a semi-finalist at this year’s French Open, forced the tie into a deciding rubber on his second match point in a tense final game.<\/p>\n Lehecka, who beat Shelton in straight sets on Friday, recovered after giving an early break back to take the first set.<\/p>\n Tien forged 3-0 ahead as he attempted to force the tie all the way to a final set, but fell away and Lehecka clinched a brilliant win on his fourth match point.<\/p>\n History-making South Korea<\/p>\n Earlier, South Korea made history by beating India 3-1 in Seoul.<\/p>\n Kwon Soon-woo<\/a> brushed Sumit Nagal<\/a> aside 6-1, 6-2<\/a> to clinch the decisive point for the Koreans, who won both of Friday’s singles rubbers before India triumphed in the doubles.<\/p>\n “I feel very proud for my country and every team I play against, I give my best,” said Kwon. “When I play in a team, I know that I can’t let my teammates down.”<\/p>\n Austria also booked their spot as Jurij Rodionov<\/a> sealed a 3-1 win for the hosts in Vienna with a 7-6(6), 6-3<\/a> victory over Zizou Bergs<\/a>, Belgium’s number one in the absence of Alexander Blockx<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I feel amazing. Proud of myself and the team. Big goal for us was to qualify to the Final 8,” said Rodionov.<\/p>\n Rodionov got Austria on the board in Friday’s opening singles before Bergs pulled Belgium level.<\/p>\n Doubles pair Lucas Miedler<\/a> and Neil Oberleitner<\/a> then beat Sander Gille<\/a> and Joran Vliegen<\/a> in straight sets to put Austria back on top.<\/p>\n Newly-crowned US Open champion Alexander Zverev<\/a> gave Germany a 1-0 lead over Croatia in Halle, making a quick return to action as he beat Matej Dodig<\/a> 6-4, 7-6(3)<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Germany, who have not won the Davis Cup since 1993, were pegged back to end the first day level as Croatian youngster Dino Prizmic<\/a> brushed aside Daniel Altmaier<\/a> 6-4, 6-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spain continued their tilt at a seventh title by seizing a 2-0 lead over Chile in Santiago courtesy of singles wins for Daniel Merida<\/a> and Davis Cup debutant Rafael Jodar<\/a> over Alejandro Tabilo<\/a> and Cristian Garin<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n Britain’s Toby Samuel<\/a> overcame Andres Andrade<\/a> of Ecuador and Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery<\/a> saw off Alvaro Guillen Meza<\/a> as the hosts took a 2-0 advantage in London.<\/p>\n Canada beat France<\/p>\n Canada beat France 3-1 at Quebec City to reach the last eight.<\/p>\n Benjamin Bonzi<\/a> and Pierre-Hugues Herbert<\/a> beat Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/a> and Duncan Chan<\/a> 7-6(4), 6-3<\/a> in doubles to keep France in the fight after two singles losses on Friday.<\/p>\n World number five Auger-Aliassime would not be denied, however, as he rallied to defeat France’s Arthur Rinderknech<\/a> 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4<\/a> to ensure Canada advanced.<\/p>\n The Canadians last won the Davis Cup in 2022, while France has not hoisted the trophy since 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jiri Lehecka downed Learner Tien in a deciding rubber as the Czech Republic stunned the United States 3-2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-855247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}