United States brushes aside Chile to open Davis Cup group play

ZHUHAI, China (AP) — The United States opened group play in the Davis Cup by winning three straight matches on deciding tiebreakers for a 3-0 victory over Chile at Zhuhai, China, on Wednesday.

Brandon Nakashima beat Alejandro Tabilo 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (3) after Reilly Opelka defeated Cristian Garin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) to give the Americans an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Those two singles matches lasted in excess of five hours and the U.S. brought in Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for the doubles, which they won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) against Tomas Barrios Vera and Matias Soto.

Four groups are playing in four cities this week to qualify for the Final 8 knockout stage to be held in Malaga, Spain, in November. The top two countries in each four-team group will advance.

The U.S., which has a leading 32 Davis Cup titles, with its most recent in 2007, is bidding to reach the quarterfinals for the second time since the Davis Cup Finals were introduced in 2019. In the qualifiers this year, the Americans defeated Ukraine 4-0 on neutral ground in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Later Wednesday in Bologna, host Italy — the defending champion — was scheduled to play Brazil in Group A. In Valencia, Spain was set to play Czech Republic in Group B and, in Group D in Manchester, England, Britain was scheduled to play Finland.

In opening play on Tuesday, Belgium beat the Netherlands 2-1, Australia defeated France 2-1, Germany — playing without No. 2-ranked Alexander Zverev — beat Slovakia 3-0 and Canada defeated Argentina 2-1.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis