Sydney, Jan. 4 (BUS): Daniil Medvedev and Roman Sviulin won their singles matches before meeting to win their doubles matches on Tuesday to give defending champions Russia a sweep of Australia and first place in Group B in the ATP Cup.
Russia advances 2-0 in the tournament, but they still have to beat Italy on Thursday in the rematch between last year’s finalists to secure their place in the semi-finals, the Associated Press reports.
Safiullin opened the night session with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over James Duckworth. Medvedev beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-2 to ensure the victory of Russia before the two.
Italy rebounded from their shock loss to Australia last Sunday to sweep France, as Yannick Sener beat Arthur Rindernik 6-3, 7-6 (3) and Matteo Berrettini over Ugo Humbert 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the singles matches. .
For Berrettini, it was a confidence-boosting win after losing to De Minaur at the weekend. Humbert had upset US Open champion Medvedev.
The four teams in Group C scored 1-1 after Germany beat the United States and Canada drew to beat Britain.
Jan-Lennard Struve held out 34 aces in a 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 win over John Isner to give Germany the lead and Alexander Zverev sealed the victory, on his fifth match point, with a 6. 4, 6-4 beat Taylor Fritz.
Isner and Fritz combined to win 6-0, 6-3 over Kevin Krawetz and Tim Putz in the doubles, giving the Americans a point that could prove crucial in determining the group winners.
Germany lost to Britain 2-1 in the opening match of the tournament, and the Americans swept Canada 3-0.
In the evening session, Dan Evans gave Britain an early lead over Canada by defeating Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4, but Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-3 and then joined Shapovalov. He defeated Jimmy Murray and Joe Salisbury 6-4, 6-1 in the decisive doubles match.
The group winner will be decided on Thursday when Germany plays Canada and the United States plays Britain.
The four winners of the 16-team tournament advance to the semi-finals on Friday and Saturday, with the final scheduled for Sunday.