The Czechs defeated the home team Spain at the start of the Davis Cup final group. Machac, Lehecka and doubles players won

On Wednesday, the Czech team started its performance in Group C of the Davis Cup final stage. In Valencia, the team of non-playing captain Jaroslav Navrátil played against the home team of Spain, who had to do without their biggest stars. The Czech team won the important match 3:0.

The Czechs were among the top 16 teams thanks to the successful qualification in February. They defeated Portugal on clay court in Maia. They were then drawn in a group with Serbia, South Korea and the host country, Spain.

The South Europeans are not only missing the legendary Rafael Nadal. Twenty-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, the current world number two, also excused himself from participation after falling out in the semi-finals of the US Open.

Machac made a winning entry into the tournament

The captain of the national team from the Apennine Peninsula, David Ferrer, the former third player in the ATP rankings, seeded Bernabé Zapata Miralles for the first match. The tennis player, whose preferred surface is clay, is ranked 75th in the singles rankings.

Tomas Machac took on him on the fast court at the Pabellón Municipal Fuente San Luis arena in Valencia. Despite his ranking position, the 119th man in the ATP rankings celebrated in the end.

The 22-year-old Beroun native won twice 6:4, taking one serve from his rival in each set. In the first set he did it right at the beginning, in the second one in the seventh game. Miralles allowed only one break point chance during the whole match, but it remained unused.

“Service was my strongest point. I gave him few chances. And when he did have one, I leaned well on my backhand game,” Macháč told CT Sport.

The decisive second point was added by Lehečka

Jiri Lehečka, a year younger than Macháč, wanted to follow up his success in the duel of team leaders. The two had run into each other relatively recently, with the young Czech winning 7:6 and 6:4 at Queen’s Club in London in June.

The opening set of their Davis Cup clash also culminated in a tiebreak. ” The tiebreak of the first set was very important. I would say it was definitely one of the key episodes of this match,“ Lehečka told Czech Television after the match.

In the second part of the match, everyone held their serve for a long time. The Czech break in the eleventh game was the key, but Davidovich Fokina could not answer it. Lehečka thus secured the winning point for the Czech Republic with the final results 7:6 and 7:5.

The Czech doubles players managed a successful turnaround

The doubles was next on the agenda. The doubles specialist Adam Pavlásek played alongside the talented Jakub Menšík against the experienced Marcel Granollers and Davidovich Fokina.

The Spaniards made the decisive move to take the first set on Pavlasek’s serve at 5:5. The serving Granollers and his teammate then finished the set relatively calmly, taking advantage of a second set point at 7:5.

The following set offered a balanced spectacle and the winner had to be decided by a shortened game. The pair of Pavlásek, Menšík fought off two match points and won 8:6.

In the third act the break was important at 3:2. The Spanish pair didn’t react to that, the well-serving Menšík and Pavlásek took their first match point at 6:4, which came after almost two and a half hours of battle.

The world number one will also be in Valencia

The third point can play a significant role in the final table. Navratil’s team will play the South Koreans on Thursday and the Serbians on Saturday, reinforced by the recently concluded US Open champion Novak Djokovic, the old world number one.

Davis Cup group stage battles are also underway in three other cities this week. Italy, defending champions Canada, the Chileans and the Swedes play in Bologna, the British, French, Australians and Swiss play in Manchester and the Croatians, Dutch, Finns and US tennis players play in Split.

The top two teams from each foursome will advance to the quarterfinals. The entire knockout stage will be hosted by Málaga, Spain, where the famous “salad bowl” will be contested from 21 to 26 November in the 111th edition of the competition.

Source: Davis Cup, ATP, CT Sport