Frances Tiafoe lost in the Davis Cup Finals for the second time in a row. His most recent loss occurred on Thursday as a result of a code violation for slamming his racket into the ground on match point after arguing with the chair umpire.
In Group D in Split, Tiafoe’s defeat against Tallon Griekspoor by scores of 6-3, 6-7 (7), and 7-6 (2) enabled the Netherlands to defeat the United States by a score of 2-1.
After a challenge, Tiafoe requested to repeat a point, which infuriated him. He argued with the umpire and match referee ineffectively before going back to the court and smashing his racket four times, which resulted in his second code violation and the deduction of a point. As he was down 6-2 in the tiebreaker, it led to the conclusion of the game.
“The game’s conclusion was quite awful. When the call came in at 5-2, a lot happened there towards the end, according to Tiafoe. “Obviously I should have reacted differently, but I’m fighting for my country and I’m really hoping to win. The match is finished because I broke a racquet there and I was unaware that I had a code violation earlier in the game. I gave it all I had. I’ve had a challenging period while I’ve been in Croatia.
In the first singles match, Botic Van de Zandschulp defeated Tommy Paul 7-6 (2), 6-2. Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram defeated Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-3 to give the Americans the doubles victory.
Tiafoe, who advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals earlier this month, fell to Borna Gojo of Croatia on Wednesday in a match that the Americans won 2-1.
The Netherlands, who won their first game against Finland, are in first place in the group.
Canada, the defending champion, beat Sweden earlier in the day 3-0 to grab the lead in Group A.
Gabriel Diallo defeated Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-3 to give the Canadians the victory and the point. Vasek Pospisil defeated Leo Borg 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2 to give Canada a 1-0 lead. Bjorn Borg’s son, Borg, is an 11-time Grand Slam winner. The doubles event was won by Canada in a single set.
For today’s tie, “this was a huge match for Canada,” according to Pospisil. It’s a significant one for us since we’re almost through our group stage but there is still a lot of work to be done.
In Bologna, the champions began their championship defense with a 3-0 victory against the host nation Italy on Wednesday, while Sweden was thoroughly defeated by Chile the previous day.
Sweden was hoping to advance to the last eight for the second time in three years, while Canada, which is on a 10-match winning run, was hoping to seal its berth in the quarterfinals for the third time in its previous four visits.
Sweden had won in both meetings between the two countries, including the group stage match in Madrid in 2021 when Canada was without its best performers Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov.
After Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell upset Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Group B’s pivotal doubles match 7-5, 6-3 in Manchester, Australia came from behind to overcome France 2-1. Adrian Mannarino had beaten Purcell in the singles, while Alex de Minaur had defeated Ugo Humbert.
Lleyton Hewitt, the captain of Australia, stated, “For us to regroup and get the win against a quality team in France today was really important.” “We dug deep and are still hanging in there with our backs against the wall.”
In Valencia’s Group C match, the Czech Republic beat South Korea 3-0.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will go to the Final 8, which will be held in November in Malaga, a city in southern Spain.
