Belgium sink Germany to make quarters

Darcis clinches a quarter-finals berth for
Belgium with a win over Alexander Zverev

Germany crashed to a third straight Davis Cup first-round exit as Steve Darcis clinched a quarter-finals berth for Belgium with victory over teenager Alexander Zverev in Frankfurt yesterday.
Darcis needed just over three hours to secure a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (8) win over the 19-year-old Zverev to give Belgium an unassailable 3-1 lead before the final singles rubber.
Germany face a fight to remain in the elite World Group after being consigned to a relegation play-off while Belgium will play either champions Argentina or Italy in the quarter-finals in April.
The hosts started as favourites to win the tie after Belgian number one David Goffin dropped out to recover from his run to the quarter-finals of last month’s Australian Open.
Germany, who last won the title in 1993, had lost to the Czech Republic in last year’s opening round in Hanover and France in 2015.
The hosts were under pressure after going 2-1 down to Belgium in Saturday’s doubles rubber when Alexander Zverev and elder brother Mischa, 29, lost to Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore.
On Friday, the younger Zverev sibling hauled Germany level at 1-1 by the end of the first day with a straight-sets win over De Greef after Kohlschreiber lost to Darcis over five sets.

Rookie Thompson’s double in Australia’s win
Young rookie Jordan Thompson claimed a winning double as Australia completed a 4-1 Davis Cup World Group victory over the Czech Republic in Melbourne yesterday.
The 22-year-old, who was handed his debut by captain Lleyton Hewitt after Bernard Tomic made himself unavailable citing scheduling issues, won his second singles rubber of the tie on the Kooyong hardcourt.
Thompson, ranked 65, fought off the 157th-ranked Jan Satral 7-6 (5), 6-2 in 91 minutes to follow his 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 upset of 54th-ranked Jiri Vesely in Friday’s opening singles.
Vesely earned the Czechs’ only point of the tie when he downed Sam Groth, who stood in for Nick Kyrgios, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in yesterday’s other reverse singles.
Australia will now face a home tie against the United States in the quarter-finals of the team competition on April 7-9.
“It’s a pretty quick turnaround, eight weeks or so, so the players get to go away and play in a few big tournaments before that,” Hewitt said.
“But I’m pretty happy with the way the boys are hitting it at the moment, so hopefully they come back playing just as well.”
Asked if Tomic would be considered for selection to play the Americans, Hewitt said: “Ah. I don’t know. Not sure. Can’t answer that right now.”
The Australians were always in control of the Kooyong tie against the hapless Czechs, who played without world number 12 Tomas Berdych and experienced Radek Stepanek, who withdrew from the doubles with injury.
Doubles pair John Peers and Groth secured the tie for Australia when they raced through the scratch Czech pairing of Vesely and Satral 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday’s doubles.
World number 15 Kyrgios conceded just seven games in reeling off a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over Satral on Friday.
Australia now lead the Czech Republic 8-1 in the Davis Cup competition.
Australia, 28-time winners, have not won the Davis Cup since 2003 and only returned to the competition’s top tier in 2014 after a six-year absence.

Americans sweep out Swiss
A United States doubles victory by Jack Sock and Steve Johnson completed a first-round Davis Cup sweep of Switzerland on Saturday.
Sock and Johnson defeated Swiss Henri Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5) after the hosts swept both Friday singles matches at Birmingham, Alabama.
The US duo saved a set point in the third on their way to forcing the tie-breaker.
“We were fortunate to get back there in the third and not be playing a fourth set,” Sock said. “It was a lot of fun, my first doubles match in a Davis Cup tie... Stevie and I came out today and had a lot of fun together.”
Sock downed Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 and big-serving John Isner bested Laaksonen 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (1) in singles and the doubles victory left only dead rubbers for Sunday’s scheduled singles matchups between Isner and Chiudinelli and Sock and Laaksonen.
The big US lead helped relax Johnson, in only his second Davis Cup tie.
“Actually no nerves, which is a good thing,” Johnson said. “I was nervous my first tie but having Jack and John win two singles, there was less pressure for us today, so it was fun.”

Noah targets French Davis glory after Japan win
France captain Yannick Noah said his team could go on to lift the Davis Cup after wrapping up a 4-1 first-round victory over Japan yesterday.
Entering the final day’s reverse singles in Tokyo with an unassailable 3-0 lead, the nine-time champions chose to rest Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon and split the two dead rubbers.
Doubles specialist Nicolas Mahut replaced Gasquet and took the first set off Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 before a wrist injury ended the Japanese player’s hopes of a comeback.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the other half of the world’s top-ranked doubles pair who clinched France’s third point on Saturday, took Simon’s place in the abbreviated singles.
However, he was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Yasutaka Uchiyama as Japan avoided a whitewash in the absence of world number five Kei Nishikori, who dropped out the World Group clash citing a busy schedule.
“If all my players are ready then we have the possibility to go all the way,” said Noah, a Davis Cup runner-up in 1982.
“That’s what we should aim for – the win the whole thing,” added the former French Open champion. “But to do that we have to be at 100 percent in the next three ties.”
Noah could have a selection headache for the quarter-finals in April, where France will face either Great Britain or Canada.
With their two highest-ranked singles players, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, also available, Noah could be tempted to tinker with his line-up as France look to capture the Davis Cup for a first time since 2001.