Spain and Italy came into this week at the Davis Cup Finals without their two main components as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, their top ranked players were not involved and this meant crushing defeats in their openers.
Czech Republic in particular sent a sweeping statement. They stunned Spain on home soil in Valencia on Wednesday 3-0. Tomas Machac and Jiri Lehecka showed their Davis Cup experience both playing 5+ times for their country.
Bernabe Zapata Mirallas on the other hand was drafted in as a late replacement for a first Davis Cup appearance and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was competing for the first time in singles in the tournament.
Machac saw off Zapata Mirallas 6-4, 6-4, while Lehecka showed his composure and leadership as Czech number one to seal it 7-6, 7-5. A doubles tie to Jakub Mensik and Adam Pavlasek saw them claim it.
But defending champions Canada who despite on paper having that tag also eased through their opener without multiple players that saw them win it last year. Felix Auger-Aliassime isn't involved, Denis Shapovalov is benched and Milos Raonic wasn't involved in this clash either.
But against a team still featuring Lorenzo Sonego and Lorenzo Musetti, it was Alexis Galarneau and Gabriel Diallo's turn to step up and thus they did. 7-6, 6-4 win for the former and for the latter 7-5, 6-4. Before Galarneau and Pospisil finished it in three sets in doubles.
Novak Djokovic will compete this week in Davis Cup Finals and will hope to add that extra spark for Serbia that seemingly Spain and Italy have missed out on.
Both Spain and Italy – without Alcaraz and Sinner – have been SWEPT in their first tie of the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage. 🇨🇿 3⃣➖0⃣ 🇪🇸 🇨🇦 3⃣➖0⃣ 🇮🇹 That was actually unexpected, especially for Team Italy, that faced a Canada without Felix, Raonic, or Shapo (benched).
