Spain and Argentina both swept through the first day of group play as the 2021 ATP Tour season kicked off Saturday in the second annual ATP Cup in Sydney, Australia.
The tournament runs from January 1-9 and features a field of 16 teams, who compete at two venues (Ken Rosewall Arena and Qudos Bank Arena) at Sydney Olympic Park. The winner of each group of four teams will advance to the semifinals. Each “tie” will include two singles and one doubles match. The country winning two matches wins the tie.
On Day 1, Spain and Argentina each swept their ties. For Spain (Group A), Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 7-6 (4), Roberto Bautista Agut swept Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-3 and the pair of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pedro Martinez won 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-7 over Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and Tabilo.
Argentina prevailed over Georgia (Group D) as Federico Delbonis defeated Aleksandre Metreveli 6-1, 6-2, Diego Schwartzman topped Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-2 and the doubles pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni prevailed over Saba Purtseladze and Zura Tkemaladze 6-1, 6-2.
Elsewhere in Group A, Serbia edged Norway as Filip Krajinovic got past Viktor Durasovic 6-2, 7-5 and the doubles pair of Nikola Cacic and Kraginovic upended Durasovic and Casper Ruud, 7-6 (3), 6-3. In singles play, Ruud defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 7-5.
The other tie in Group D Saturday went to Poland, 2-1 over Greece. Kamil Majchrzak topped Michail Pervolarakis 6-1, 6-4, and Hubert Hurkacz defeated Aristotelis Thanos 6-1, 6-2. The pair of Hurkacz and Jan Zielinski lost to Pervolarakis and Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6, 7-5, 8-10.
Day 2 of round-robin action Sunday will feature Russia vs. France and Italy vs. Australia in Group B as well as the United States vs. Canada and Great Britain vs. Germany in Group C.
–Field Level Media