Novak Djokovic wins back to back matches to push Serbia into the semifinals at Davis Cup, Russia faces Sweden in quarterfinals

(Tennis news) World number one Novak Djokovic made it two in two as Serbia made its way into the semifinal of the Davis Cup where they will face Croatia. Kazakhstan made a winning start to the tie as Mikhail Kukushkin overcame Miomir Kecmanović in a three hour battle to give the first point for the team, in the second match Djokovic secured the first point in an hour. In the final match, the pair of Nikola Cacic and Novak Djokovic confirmed their place into the last four as they beat Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

 

Mikhail Kukushkin gave slight hopes in the beginning as the 33 year old took the opening set in a tiebreaker which lasted 59 minutes. In the second set, Kecmanović came back to make it 1-1 and in the decider Kukushkin rose on top, even saving four match points to give the team a chance to reach the semifinals for the first time. Novak Djokovic played as expected, to beat Alexander Bublik as Bublik could only take 7 games and the tie was back into contention.

 

"I'm proud of my fighting spirit. We had a little drop energetically in the second set, but we managed to bounce back. The start of the third set was crucial, the first couple of games to hold our nerves, try to switch the momentum to our side and that's what we managed. I'm proud of Nikola, proud of this team and I think we deserve to be in the semi-finals." Djokovic said in his on-court interview

 

Nikola Cacic and Novak Djokovic took the first set against Golubev and Nedovyesov to again take the lead but it was soon over as they lost the second set. The tie was into its last set as Serbia cemented their place by taking the final set to set up a clash against Croatia.

 

The last quarterfinal match will be between Russia and Sweden which will take place today. Russia had won the title 2002 and 2006, Sweden on the other hand have won the title seven times. Russia will be the favorites to win as Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Aslan Karatsev head the field. Mikael Ymer and Elias Ymer have been very successful for the Swedish team but the Ymer brothers will have to expect strong competition from their opponents.

 

The expected score is 3-0 for Russia or 2-1 as Sweden has a minute chance of winning the tie. The winner of the quarterfinal will face Germany in the second semifinal on 4th december. The first semi final is on 3rd december as Serbia will take on Croatia.

Also read: Germany into the semifinals after beating 10 time champion Britain at Davis Cup

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