Argentina qualified for the Coipa Davis 2022 Finals after reaching an irretrievable marker on the Czech Republic 3-0 in the series to the best of five points, after the victory in doubles of Horacio Zeballos and Máximo González over Jiri Lehecka and Tomas Machac by 6-4 and 6-4, and Federico Coria over Vit Kopriva by 6-2 and 6-4.
Zeballos, fifth in the world in the doubles ranking, and “Machi” González (24), consummated their victory in one hour and 29 minutes on the Guillermo Vilas central court of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, before no more than 2,000 spectators who supported stoic the rain for most of the game.
The Argentine team, with the debut as captain of Guillermo “Mago” Coria, achieved the point it needed to rubbing shoulders with the Davis elite countries since their last participation in 2019in the Finals that will be played next September.
Argentina had been one point away from winning the tie this Friday after the wins achieved by Sebastián Báez over Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (7-4) and 6-3, and by Diego Schwartzman against Tomas Machac 2-6 , 6-2 and 6-3.
TO THE FINALS!!❤️???
The Argentine Tennis Team @YPFoficial beat the Czech Republic?? and got into the decisive instance of the Davis Cup by Rakuten.? The group stage will be held from September 14 to 18 at a venue to be confirmed.#Let’s go Argentina #TheLargestTeam pic.twitter.com/M2BcCYxyoo
– Argentina Tennis (@AATenis) March 5, 2022
the doubles
The importance of the doubles point motivated the Czech captain to change the formation, since he had announced Vit Kopriva and Zdenek Kolar last Thursday during the series draw, but with the score 2-0 down, he decided to include his two best tennis players , although it did not give him result since Zeballos and González were far superior.
At the beginning of the game, under a light drizzle, Zeballos from Mar del Plata commented better, looser than “Machi” González and owner of the best points, especially those he defined in the net.
Argentina’s first advantage came with a return by “Machi” González to Lehecka’s body that allowed Machac to break serve and take a 4-3 lead just as people began to open their umbrellas to shelter from the rain at this intense height.
With inspired Zeballos and González from Tandil accompanying very well, It was not surprising that the Argentine couple won the first set 6-4 to unleash the first celebration of the afternoon with the public singing loudly “Come on, come on Argentina, come on, let’s win”, a soccer and tennis classic.
In the second part, the argentinians maintained the intensity with the court that favored themincreasingly heavy due to the rain, although somewhat slippery, and so they broke Machac again with a lucid forehand from “Machi” González, to get 1-0, an advantage that they later stretched to 2-0 with a good service game of the Mar del Plata
The Czechs, two singles players who took on the doubles point to try to achieve a sporting feat and reverse the tie, could not find answers before two specialists like “Zebo” and “Machi”, so it was not surprising that the “albiceleste” couple maintained their dominance .
The closing was full orchestra with Zeballos at the service and Machi volleying in the net with luxurious touches and with a total command of the stage and the Argentine bank prepared for the festivities.
Argentina achieved the victory by 6-4 and 6-4 with the second “match point” that he arranged and finalized with a formidable right hand from Zeballos that unleashed the great celebration throughout the stadium, the people and the other members of the team. “albiceleste”,
celebrations
The “Wizard” Coria, who made a successful debut as captain, entered to hug Zeballos and “Machi” González, and then Báez, Schwartzman and Federico Coria joined.
In addition, the celebration included two Davis Cup champions such as Leonardo Mayer from Corrientes, who collaborated with the “Magician” Coria’s coaching staff throughout the week, and Federico Delbonis, who had been summoned but was sidelined from the team due to a knee injury. hip.
With the series defined in favor of Argentina, the “Wizard” Coria and the captain of the Czechs Jaroslav Navratil agreed to play only the fourth point encouraged by “Fefo” Coria and Vit Kopriva.
The concrete thing is that Argentina did not fail and confirmed their favoritism on the field, and that having defeated the Czech Republic, they won one of the 16 places available for the group stage of the Davis Finals that will be played from 14 to Next September 18 (after the US Open), in four different venues that will be announced in mid-March.
