The United States signalled successful intentions Friday of their Davis Cup Qualifier in opposition to Uzbekistan, taking a 2-0 lead after the primary singles matches.
Debutant Mackenzie McDonald, contemporary from an Australian Open outing that noticed him take down Rafael Nadal in Melbourne, defeated Uzbekistan’s No.1 Sergey Fomin within the opening rubber of the tie. The 21-year-old Fomin, the No.366 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, delighted the vocal Uzbekistani supporters with flashes of brilliance however the World No.63 McDonald held agency for a 6-4, 6-1 win.
“It’s been amazing,” mentioned McDonald of his first Davis Cup expertise up to now. “I’d say it’s really nice playing a team event. It’s not something you get to do a lot throughout the year… I’m very excited to be on the Davis Cup team.”
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World No.19 Tommy Paul then confronted No.480-ranked Khumoyun Sultanov within the second singles match.
After taking the primary set 6-1, Paul confronted a renewed onslaught from the Uzbek, who leapt to an early 4-0 lead earlier than being reeled again in. The pair then went toe to toe earlier than Paul edged the tie-break for a remaining rating of 6-1, 7-6(6).
“In the second set he picked up his level a tonne,” Paul mentioned afterwards. “I felt like I wasn’t ready for it. He bought a reasonably good lead there within the second.
“I feel the workforce helped me out and the power I introduced there within the second was so much higher, simply pumping myself up and searching a bit extra up for the problem,” he added.
The 2-0 scoreline leaves Uzbekistan’s doubles pairing of Fomin and Sanjar Fayziev with an uphill battle once they meet Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
Play in Tashkent resumes on Saturday at 12:00 native time (07:00 hrs GMT).
This story options contributions from DavisCup.com
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