Nadal, Djokovic off to winning starts in ATP Cup

Nadal was broken in his first service game but found his groove immediately to break back. Another break of Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili’s serve was enough for him to win the opening set. The Spaniard broke his opponent twice to jump to a 5-2 lead in the second set but faced two consecutive breaks on his own serve that levelled it at 5-5.

Nadal then broke again and held on to seal the tie for his team with a 6-3, 7-5 win in Perth. Djokovic had to dig deep in his 7-6(5), 7-6(6) victory over Anderson, winning the tie for Serbia in Brisbane. Anderson, 33, returned to court for the first time since Wimbledon and played only five tournaments in 2019 due to elbow and knee injuries.

The 2018 Wimbledon runner-up fell to a 1-4 deficit in the opening set but fought back brilliantly to even things out. Djokovic soon lost his cool and got into a lengthy argument with the chair umpire after being denied an opportunity to challenge. On the next point, he furiously admonished the crowd for disturbance during a rally.

World No.4 Dominic Thiem did not have a great outing as he lost 6-7(4), 6-2, 3-6 to Borna Coric of Croatia. Coric’s win over the 2019 ATP Finals runner-up was enough for Croatia as Marin Cilic had rallied to beat Dennis Novak 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire won their singles matches to help France seal its tie against Chile in Brisbane.

Argentina required its doubles pairing of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni to step up to the plate to clinch the tie against Poland after Guido Pella and Hubert Hurkacz won their respective singles rubbers to level the tie at 1-1. The players had to negotiate trying conditions in Sydney, which saw temperatures reach 44 degrees Celsius.

Japan, which is without the injured Kei Nishikori, had an easy day in Perth with Yoshihito Nishioka and Go Soeda breezing through their singles matches against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas and Martin Cuevas respectively.