Tennis icon watches Aussie beat his son as Australia make strong start to Davis Cup
A tennis legend was watching on as his son went down to an Aussie as Australia made a strong start to their Davis Cup campaign.
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Australia have got off to a strong start to their Davis Cup campaign, winning the opening two singles rubbers against Sweden overnight on Saturday (AEDT).
In Stockholm world No. 8 Alex de Minaur helped Australia to a 2-0 lead over Sweden.
De Minaur, a beaten quarter-finalist in the Australian Open, felled Mikael Ymer 7-5, 6-1 before Aleksandar Vukic got the better of Leo Borg, son of 11-time grand slam winner Bjorn Borg, 6-4, 6-4.
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Bjorn Borg, who won five Wimbledon titles, six French Opens and a Davis Cup during his legendary run, was watching on in the stands with his wife Patricia Östfeldt.
Leo, the world No. 484, played well earn three break points for a 5-4 lead in the second set.
But Vukic, making his Davis Cup debut, reeled off several aces to close out the match.
The 28-year-old made the third round of the Australian Open and was brought into Australia’s squad, with Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis out with injuries.
“Leo’s a very good player,” Vukic said after his win.
“He made it very tough, and it’s always tough to play in front of the opponent’s home crowd. A match that I’m very happy to win,” smiled Vukic.
“Alex did a great job before me, and hopefully we’ll just get some rest and recovery before the doubles guys try to do their thing.”
John Peers and Matt Ebden are heavy favourite to beat Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson in Saturday’s (Sunday morning AEDT) doubles.
Elsewhere, Argentina edged Casper Ruud’s Norway 3-2 to seal their passage into the second round of Davis Cup qualifying.
In a tense tie in Oslo which had begun on Thursday world No. 5 Ruud won both his singles matches but Mariano Navone’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Nicolai Budkov Kjaer late into the night knocked Norway out of the competition.
In Taiwan, the United States claimed both the opening day singles thanks to wins from Marcos Giron and Alex Michelson.
Britain and Japan are all square at 1-1 after day one in Miki. Davis Cup debutant Jacob Fearnley defeated former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 to level the tie after the home side’s Yoshihito Nishioka’s 7-5 6-1 victory against Billy Harris.
Germany are on target for the next round, leading in Israel 2-0, and Austria go into day two in control over Finland by the same margin.
Serbia, missing injured Novak Djokovic, are 2-0 up against Denmark, and the Czech Republic are also sitting pretty 2-0 in South Korea. Croatia are also 2-0 up against Slovakia.
The ties between Brazil v France, Chile v Belgium, Switzerland v Spain, and Canada v Hungary, begin on Saturday.
Jannick Sinner’s Italy won the eight-team men’s event in Spain last year for the first time in 47 years.
As a result Italy get a free pass to the final in Bologna in November. The defending champions are taking over hosting duties from Malaga. The 2024 runners-up the Netherlands get a bye to the second round of qualifying in September.
This weekend’s first round features 26 teams competing in 13 ties. Each tie consists of two singles matches on day one, and a doubles match followed by two singles matches on day two.
The 13 winners will advance to the second round.
The Davis Cup was first held in 1900 making it the longest running international men’s team event in sport.
Originally published as Tennis icon watches Aussie beat his son as Australia make strong start to Davis Cup
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