BOLOGNA, Italy — Zizou Bergs beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 7-6 (4) to send Belgium into the Davis Cup semifinals with an unassailable 2-0 lead over 10-time champion France on Tuesday.
Belgium had lost its past four meetings with France, including in the 2017 final. It will face No. 1 Italy or Austria on Friday. The last two quarterfinals will be held Thursday, including No. 2 Germany against Argentina, and Spain against the No. 4-seeded Czech Republic.
Bergs was in control throughout and sealed the match with a superb forehand winner down the line.
Earlier, Raphael Collignon rallied past Corentin Moutet 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 to give Belgium a 1-0 lead. Ties are played as a best-of-three matches: two singles and one doubles.
Both nations were back at this stage of the team competition since it was revamped in 2019. The Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna is the sixth edition of the event to have the champion decided at a neutral site.
Moutet played solid tennis until the 12th game of the second set when he hit two double faults and fluffed an easy point at the net after trying a between-the-legs shot, dropping his serve as Collignon forced a decider.
A similar scenario unfolded in the third set as Collignon made the decisive break in the final game.
“It was a crazy match,” Collignon said.
Spain is without top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who withdrew earlier Tuesday because of a hamstring injury.
This content is shared under the principles of Fair Use for news reporting, commentary, and educational purposes. All credit and rights go to the original author and source. If you are the content owner and would like this article removed, please contact us.
To advertise your business on PortCityNews.com – go to https://www.portcitynews.com/advertise
