Pablo Carreno got Spain’s Davis Cup title defence off to a winning start with two third set tiebreaks victories and more than five hours on court.
Defending champions Spain, despite suffering last-minute withdrawals of Roberto Bautista through abdominal injury and Carlos Alcaraz returning a positive positive covid test still managed a 3-0 clean sweep over Ecuador.
Feliciano Lopez rolled back the years, beating Roberto Quiroz 6-3, 6-3 in the opening singles match, then Pablo Carreno beat Emilio Gomez in an exciting match that saw him snatch victory with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5) win
He then returned to court for the doubles with Marcel Granollers, and won his second deciding set tiebreak of the day, beating Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) in a match that extended his court time for the day beyond five hours and the match finished after midnight local time
. “I did not expect anything like this, obviously I’m very, very tired”, Carreno said afterwards. “But I think it was very, very important for us to win the three matches today.
Main photo: Pablo Carreno and Marcel Granollers win doubles rubber – by Davis Cup Tennis.
