BELGIUM 1, ARGENTINA 2
Brussels, Belgium – Hard (Indoors)

Argentina is on the verge of moving into its fifth Davis Cup final after Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Steve Darcis 6-2, 7-6(2), 5-7, 7-6(5) on Saturday.

Both teams showed resiliency in the four-hour battle. The Belgians saved 16 of 21 break points faced, while the Argentinians went 13-for-17 on break chances against. Berlocq/Mayer played more aggressively on the day, striking 82 winners to their opponents’ 64.

“Playing in Davis Cup is a dream come true and we formed a great team today,” said Berlocq during the pre-match on-court interview. “Hopefully, we can get one more win.”

Indeed, the chief priority for the visiting team will be to win one of the two reverse single rubbers on Sunday. This is Argentina’s 10th semi-final appearance in 14 years, but they have only won four of those ties to move into the Davis Cup final.

Leading off on the third day of the tie will be the teams’ respective No. 1s, David Goffin and Leonardo Mayer. Goffin is the higher-ranked of the two at No. 15 in the world to Mayer’s No. 39. The Belgian won the pair’s lone tour-level meeting (Winston-Salem 2014), but both players have yet to face off on clay or in a best-of-five format.

“It’s been four hours, two days, long matches but I have energy,” Mayer told Daviscup.com. “Davis Cup is like this, and I love playing in Davis Cup.”