It must be some sort of a record to have seven consecutive ties all going to deciding mixed doubles over four days of competitive play at the United Cup in Sydney.
“It’s our second match as a team, so we’re super happy. Thanks for the Chilean people for the support. Amazing. So it feels great, of course.” Tomas Barrios Vera
Chile made up for their loss to Canada on Sunday, by defeating last year’s semi-finalists, Greece who were appearing in the competition for the first time.
But the day belonged to Chile who recovered from losing the opening rubber to Maria Sakkari by claiming the men’s singles and then a very tight deciding mixed to pull off an excellent 2-1 victory.
Tomas Barrios Vera and Daniela Seguel defeated the Greek stars Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(5) 6-3 10-6 to seal their final Group B tie.
“It’s amazing, amazing,” Barrios Vera said. “It’s our second match as a team, so we’re super happy. Thanks for the Chilean people for the support. Amazing. So it feels great, of course.”
It didn’t look good for the South Americans at the start as Sakkari took control of the opening rubber by sweeping past Daniela Seguel in 68-minutes, 6-0 6-1 but then Nicolas Jarry steadied the ship by defeating the 19-year old Stefanos Sakellaridis, who replaced Tsitsipas for the occasion, 6-3 3-6 7-5 and, as the score implies, put in a more than credible performance over two-hours and 22-minutes.
Tsitsipas did make himself available for the deciding doubles but couldn’t prevent the Chilean duo from achieving their goal, well illustrated by the way they came back from 1-5 down in the first set tiebreak to snatch the set and, despite the Greeks levelling in the second set, took control of the third in the Match tie break to secure the historic 7-6(5) 3-6 10-6 victory.
“We’re trying to have fun, of course. Point by point. It’s been amazing to take the first victory as a team with Chile,” Barrios Vera added. “We try to have fun, to be point by point and it worked.”
The final group match in Group F was played out in the evening and it was important for it would decide who tops the table and progresses to the quarter finals.
As it turned out Croatia beat The Netherlands 2-1 with all three countries finishing with a 1-1 record and a 50% sets won rate which left Norway at the top of the group thanks to their best winning percentage in games.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic was instrumental in keeping her nation’s hopes alive
(Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images)
Croatia knew it could have won Group F by sweeping the tie and came close to achieving that. Borna Coric and Donna Vekic won their singles matches and Ivan Dodig and Vekic held match point in the mixed doubles.
But Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuurs spoiled their party as they held out in the mixed to defeat the Croatian’s 6-7(3) 6-3 14-12.
“I’m happy with the win. It was a very exciting match, especially at the end,” Schuurs said. “It was very close; it could have gone both ways. But of course, we wanted to win in two sets, and we knew that before the match… It’s a lot of emotions.”
Croatia will now wait to see if it will advance to the quarter finals as the best second-placed team in Sydney.
For the record Vekic defeated Arantxa Rus 6-2 3-6,6-1 after Borna Coric recovered to beat Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(4) 6-4.
Casper Ruud and his Norwegian compatriots are through to the last eight
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
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