Serbia leads 1-0 against Great Britain in the Davis Cup quarter-final, thanks to the victory of Miomir Kecmanovic (55th in the world) against Jack Draper (60th), 7-6 (7/2), 7- 6 (8/6), Thursday in Malaga.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic, winner in recent weeks of the Masters 1000 in Paris and the ATP Masters in Turin, can send his team to the semi-finals in the event of success in the evening against Cameron Norrie (18th).
The winning country of this last quarter will meet on Saturday the Italy of Jannik Sinner, 4th in the world and finalist at the ATP Masters against Djokovic. Thanks to their doubles victory, the Italians beat the Netherlands 2-1 at the end of the afternoon.
The other semi-final on Friday will pit Finland, defeating Canada, the defending champion, against Australia, victorious over the Czech Republic.
During the first singles between Serbia and Great Britain, Kecmanovic and Draper showed their power during long baseline rallies, like the 30 shots exchanged during one of the points in the eighth game of the first set . In this highly contested game, the Briton had to save four break points to equalize at 4-4. Then, there were two set points that Draper had to save to get back to 5-5.
Still tied, the two men had to decide in the deciding game. Draper was the first to crack, notably committing a double fault, then sending a drop shot into the net, offering four new set points to his opponent. The first was good for Kecmanovic (7/2).
The second round, also hotly contested, was also decided in a deciding game. Unlucky, especially when his tweener (shot between the legs) ended up in the net, Draper ended up giving in on Kecmanovic’s second match point (8/6) after two hours of arm wrestling.