SYDNEY: World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas showed little sign of the elbow problem that forced him out of his ATP Cup singles opener but he failed to find a way past Diego Schwartzman as the Argentine won an epic battle 6-7 (5-7) 6-3, 6-3on Monday to lead his team to a 3-0 win over Greece.

Tsitsipas, who had surgery in November and missed Saturday’s meeting with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz before playing the doubles rubber, took advantage of Schwartzman’s misfiring serve to gain the early advantage at the Ken Rosewell Arena.

He grabbed an early break in the second set but lost his way thereafter as Schwartzman clawed his way back and levelled the contest before fending off a late comeback attempt while up 4-2 in the decider to help Argentina stay unbeaten in Group ‘D’.

Federico Delbonis overcame Michail Pervolarakis 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 earlier to put the South Americans in control before Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez battled past Petros Tsitsipas and Markos Kalovelonis 6-3, 4-6, 11-9 in the doubles to seal an emphatic 3-0 win.

In morning action, Hurkacz ensured Poland also went 2-0.

But the world number nine was forced to dig deep against Georgian Aleksandre Metreveli, ranked just 570, who stepped in after Nikoloz Basilashvili was a no-show.

Once he found his groove, though, last year’s Miami Open champion raced to a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Kamil Majchrzak gave Poland a strong start when he dropped just two games against Aleksandre Bakshi, winning 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes.

Szymon Walkow and Jan Zielinski then beat Aleksandre Bakshi and Zura Tkemaladze 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 10-6 to complete a 3-0 victory for Poland.

Whoever wins between Poland and Argentina on Wednesday will make the semi-finals, with only the top nation from each of the four groups progressing to the knockouts.

Veteran Roberto Bautista Agut, meanwhile, upset world number eight Casper Ruud to give Spain their second straight win in Group ‘A’ to eliminate Norway.

Bautista Agut clinched the match for Spain by beating Ruud 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) after Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Viktor Durasovic 6-3, 6-3.

Spain’s doubles pairing of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pedro Martinez ensured a clean sweep with a 6-4 6-1 win over Andreja Petrovic and Lukas Hellum Lilleengen.

Chile remained in contention for a semi-final place with a 2-1 victory over Serbia.

Filip Krajinovic put Serbia in front by beating Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) only for Chile to pull even when Dusan Lajovic retired in the third set of his match with Cristian Garin.

That set up the deciding doubles match where Tabilo and Tomas Barrios Vera beat Nikola Cacic and Matej Sabanov 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.

The result left both teams with 1-1 records heading to Wed­nesday’s final group mat­ches, where Chile take on Nor­way and Serbia face Spain.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2022