The Kazakhstan tennis team beat Norway in the qualifying round of the Davis Cup and will play in the final round of the tournament for the third time in a row. bbabo.net tell in more detail what awaits Kazakhstani tennis players.
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Norway vs Kazakhstan - 1:3
The confrontation between the teams in Oslo began with the match between the Norwegian tennis star and world No. 8 Kasper Ruud against Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin. The second racket of Kazakhstan lost as expected - 1:6, 4:6.In the second match, the first number of Kazakhstan, Alexander Bublik, and the second racket of Norway, Viktor Durasovich, entered the court. The meeting ended with the score 6:3, 6:2.
Both leaders of their national teams gave only five games to the second rackets, but Bublik won his match 15 minutes faster.
"So far, everything is going according to plan. Viktor Durasovich played well, at some moments he even started to play well, but I held on. I was able to return in time when the score was 0:30. As a result, I made him nervous and got the necessary break points", - Alexander Bublik commented on his first victory in the confrontation.
The second day opened with a pair meeting. And then immediately happened the main surprise of the whole confrontation. Andrey Golubev and Alexander Nedovesov of Kazakhstan were supposed to face Kasper Ruud and Viktor Durasovich, but there was a change in the hosts. Instead of Kasper, Simen Sunde Bratholm, who was listed fifth on the list for Norway, entered the court. Moreover, in the ATP ranking, his highest position was the 1203rd line, where he climbed on October 23, 2017. And now he is unranked in both singles and doubles.
Golubev and Nedovyesov, after an unexpected start, nevertheless won the match with a score of 7:6 (10), 6:3 and put Kazakhstan ahead in the confrontation - 2:1.
“To be honest, we didn’t expect such a replacement. What would be exactly like this. We thought about some other options, that maybe Durasovich and Ruud would not play under some scenarios of the first day. But that one would remain and the other would be removed , especially the leader of the team - Ruud.
And the guy who came out, to be honest, I don’t know him, I didn’t see him before and, no offense to him, I didn’t know about his existence. But the way he played, we must give him credit, he played very well.
Our uncertain start was due to the fact that we started a little slow, and plus our tactics, which were at the beginning of the match, suited Bratholm's style of play. They also served very well - a high percentage of the first serve. They invested and they succeeded. Durasovich and Bratholm had a very good match, and that's why the game was so close," Alexander Nedovesov shared after the victory.
“In the end, it was a good replacement. During the match, our fans helped us. Plus, we remained calm in our hearts, although there was a certain amount of nervousness. And maybe our experience that we have been playing for several years has affected. We were calm. after we played this point, we were already thinking about how to play the next one. And it helped us," Andrey Golubev added.
And in the next match everything was decided. Moreover, Alexander Bublik passed Kasper Ruud very confidently - 6:4, 5:7, 6:4. For the Kazakh tennis player, this was the first victory over the Norwegian, and even on its territory. Prior to this, Bublik had lost all three matches to Ruud. And Kasper, by the way, went on a series of ten victories in the Davis Cup in singles.
The Kazakhstani in this game scored 14 aces at once, while the Norwegian had nine. But at the same time, Bublik has six double faults in the match, and Ruud has three.
"I'm glad that I was able to give this holiday to the people of Kazakhstan and our team. We have big tournaments ahead, big tasks - we need to stay focused. At the moment, I'm quite happy with what I did. Of course, winning difficult matches is much more pleasant. Emotions are a bit different, when you win easily. It's nice to beat a good player," Alexander Bublik shared his emotions from the victory over the eighth racket of the world.
The captain of the Kazakh tennis team Yuri Schukin also summed up the results of this confrontation.
"It's great that the confrontation ended like this. We won after all in four matches and didn't have to play the fifth one. Well done guys!
Their couple surprised us a little, because we expected Kasper Ruud to play. But they chose a different tactic and apparently wanted Kasper to play solo fresh. And then the Norwegians were already hoping for Viktor Durasovich.
Kasper played well, but you saw for yourself how Sasha served. And when a person serves like this and plays well, it is difficult to do something against him. Alexander showed very good tennis and deserved to win.
During the doubles match, I think everyone got a little excited. But I believed in the guys, even if the first set didn’t work out, we would have figured it out in the second and third. It is difficult to play when you have not seen (in the game) the player opposite at all. Bratholm was a surprise for us, no one saw him, no one knew. And he played well enough."
Best moments of the match Norway - Kazakhstan
Who else made it to the final round?
France, Spain, Belgium, the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Australia, Sweden, Argentina also won in the qualifiers and South Korea. Four more countries reached the final stage directly - Russia, Croatia, Serbia and the UK. But Russia, which is the reigning Davis Cup winner, was suspended from the competition. So far there has been no word on who will replace her.France - Ecuador - 4:0
Spain - Romania - 3:1
Finland - Belgium - 2:3
USA - Colombia - 4:0
Netherlands 4-0 Canada
Brazil - Germany - 1:3
Slovakia - Italy - 2:3
Australia - Hungary - 3:2
Sweden - Japan - 3:2
Argentina - Czech Republic - 4:0
South Korea - Austria - 3:1
What's next?
In 2022, the Davis Cup Finals has changed its format. Now there will be not 18 participants from six groups of three teams, but 16 teams divided into four quartets. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs.Each group will play matches in one location and each will be located in different countries. And the playoff stage will take the fifth - neutral territory.
The group stage of the final part will be held from 14 to 18 September 2022. According to our sources, Kazakhstan is also one of the contenders for hosting the group stage. That is, the matches of the Kazakhstan national team can be held in Nur-Sultan.
The decision on the countries that will host the 2022 Davis Cup group stage should be announced as early as late March or early April. For now, applications are still being accepted.
Rating
It is interesting that out of 15 Davis Cup Finals-2022 teams, 13 are in the top 15 of the rating. Outside are only the Netherlands, which is in 20th place, and South Korea, which has risen to 21st place (plus six places). Moreover, the Netherlands just beat Canada, which rose from seventh to sixth place in the ranking.Kazakhstan in the updated March 7 ranking jumped into the top 10 and now occupies the ninth line. Before that they were 13.
Kazakhstani support
In this material, one cannot pass by Kazakhstani fans who support both the men's and women's teams in all competitions. There were only ten representatives of Kazakhstan Tennis Fans in Oslo, but with the help of local Kazakhs they managed to shout over the Norwegians, who numbered over a thousand. In total, the tribune at Oslo Tennisarena accommodated 1200 people.Fans from Kazakhstan were noted not only by our tennis players, but also by Norwegian ones. Kasper Ruud, even after the first day of the confrontation, encouraged Norwegian fans to also bring drums to the match and support their own. And once again, the organizers - the Norwegian Tennis Association, the Davis Cup and the ITF - were impressed by the Kazakh fans.
And, by the way, you can see them already on April 15 and 16, when the women's team of Kazakhstan will play with Germany in Nur-Sultan in the qualifying round match of the Billie Jean King Cup.
Photo: KTF. Andrey Udartsev©
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