AUSTRIA 3, AUSTRALIA 1
Graz, Austria (Outdoor clay)

Dominic Thiem needed two hours and 57 minutes to complete a 3-1 victory for Austria over Australia on Sunday. The World No. 8, who also secured his nation’s first point on Friday, converted seven of 12 break points and landed 29 winners to defeat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Having trailed 0-2 after Friday’s singles rubbers, Lleyton Hewitt and John Peers had given the visitors a chance of a miraculous comeback in Graz. But Thiem, who reached his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros in June, proved too strong for his 19-year-old #NextGenATP opponent on clay.

GREAT BRITAIN 3, UZBEKISTAN 1
Glasgow, Great Britain (Indoor hard)

Cameron Norrie quickly overcame the disappointment of letting a two-set lead slip on Friday by clinching a 3-1 win for Great Britain over Uzbekistan in Glasgow. Firing 22 forehand winners in one hour and 53 minutes, Norrie cruised to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 win over Sanjar Fayziev.

JAPAN 4, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 0
Osaka, Japan (Outdoor hard)

Having confirmed victory without dropping a set on Saturday, Japan scored a fourth straight-sets win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday. Yosuke Watanuki required just 58 minutes to move past Darko Bojanovic 6-1, 6-3.

SERBIA 4, INDIA 0
Kraljevo, Serbia (Indoor clay)

Like Japan, Serbia also added a fourth success in as many matches to defeat India 4-0. Pedja Krstin hit six aces and broke serve on five occasions to beat N.Sriram Balaji 6-3, 6-1.

For the third straight year, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares have lifted a hat trick of titles on the ATP World Tour. The British-Brazilian team, which has reached five tour-level finals in 2018, started the season strong with a runner-up finish on their first outing in Doha and has continued to impress throughout the year.

With a maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title to their names and two further crowns at 500-level, Murray and Soares are well placed to make their third consecutive trip to the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 11-18 November at The O2 in London. The 2016 and 2017 semi-finalists, currently occupying fifth place in the ATP Doubles Race To London, have compiled a 33-14 record this season.

Following on from their opening-week final appearance at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (l. to Marach/Pavic), Murray and Soares fell to a Round of 32 defeat at the Australian Open. A final-set tie-break loss cut short their attempts to claim a second title in three years at Melbourne Park, but Murray and Soares recovered well, with strong performances in February.

After a semi-final showing in Rio de Janeiro, the duo picked up their first trophy of the season in Acapulco. Murray and Soares did not drop a set en route to successfully defending their crown, beating Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the championship match.

After a disappointing clay-court season, Murray and Soares reached their third final of the season at the grass-court Fever-Tree Championships, defeating top-seeded Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic en route to the championship match. They followed that final run with another trip to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, their second in three years.

But Murray and Soares’ best results were still to come, with the third-year pairing recording 11 wins from 13 matches on the hard courts of North America. The Acapulco titlists added two further trophies to their collection, firstly at the Citi Open and then again at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, where the fourth seeds captured their first Masters 1000 crown.

“For me to win my first Masters [1000] is obviously really exciting,” said Murray. “[It was an] awesome week for us. To win the matches that we did against top teams that are probably going to play in London… We played really good in the important moments and kept it together well.”

“It means a lot. That is what we play tennis for, to win the big ones,” said Soares. “We’re playing great. We’ve been playing great since we got to D.C., and I’m extremely happy with everything. [It is the] first title for us at a [Masters] 1000 event, hopefully we can get many more.”

After reaching the US Open quarter-finals in New York without dropping a set, Murray and Soares looked well placed to challenge for their third Grand Slam trophy. But a shock loss to unseeded pairing Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri brought their campaign to an abrupt end.

But Murray and Soares look set to make it three consecutive years of qualifying at the Nitto ATP Finals in November. The question is, if they get there, could they make it third time lucky and advance beyond the final-four stage?

GREAT BRITAIN 2, UZBEKISTAN 1
Glasgow, Great Britain (Indoor hard)

After splitting the honours in Friday singles play, Great Britain took a 2-1 lead over Uzbekistan with a four-set victory in doubles on Saturday. Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray were one point from a two-set deficit at 4-6, 6-6 (7/8) against Sanjar Fayziev and Denis Istomin, before winning three straight points and cruising to a 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-2, 6-3 win.

Inglot and Murray fired 13 aces and saved four of five break points during the two hour, 54-minute contest. The 2015 champion moves one point from victory ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles, with Cameron Norrie scheduled to face Istomin to clinch the tie.

JAPAN 3, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 0
Osaka, Japan (Outdoor hard)

After earning a 2-0 lead on Friday, Japan confirmed victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Osaka. Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama added to Taro Daniel and Yoshihito Nishioka’s straight-sets wins with a three-set triumph of their own, defeating Tomislav Brkic and Nerman Fatic 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

SERBIA 3, INDIA 0
Kraljevo, Serbia (Indoor clay)

Serbia matched Japan’s success, completing a 3-0 sweep of its own to overcome India. Nikola Milojevic and Danilo Petrovic landed 31 winners to edge Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(4).

AUSTRIA 2, AUSTRALIA 1
Graz, Austria (Outdoor clay)

Lleyton Hewitt and John Peers kept Australia’s hopes of an away win alive in Graz, beating Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The Australian duo won 86 per cent of first-serve points (63/73) and saved three of four break points in the three-hour, 12-minute third rubber.

HUNGARY 2, CZECH REPUBLIC 1
Budapest, Hungary (Outdoor clay)

Hungary moved 2-1 ahead of the Czech Republic in Budapest after Gabor Borsos and Peter Nagy came from two sets down to beat Roman Jebavy and Lukas Rosol. Borsos and Nagy needed three hours and 16 minutes to complete a stunning comeback victory at home, edging the Czech pairing 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

SWITZERLAND 1, SWEDEN 2
Biel, Switzerland (Indoor hard)

Sweden also takes a 2-1 advantage into Sunday’s reverse singles encounters following Markus Eriksson and Robert Lindstedt’s 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over Antoine Bellier and Luca Margaroli. Eriksson and Lindstedt held each of their 13 service games, saving all three break points they faced en route to victory.

ARGENTINA 3, COLOMBIA 0
San Juan, Argentina (Indoor clay)

Argentina turned up the drama meter to complete a 3-0 rout of Colombia on Saturday. One day after Guido Pella needed five sets to claim the second singles rubber, Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos also went the distance. The duo defeated Alejandro Gomez and Cristian Rodriguez 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-4 in four hours and three minutes. They turned aside 10 of 12 break points faced to give the South American nation the unassailable victory.

CANADA 2, NETHERLANDS 1
Toronto, Canada (Indoor hard)

It was the end of an era. Former doubles No. 1 Daniel Nestor played his final professional match, teaming with Vasek Pospisil in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Matwe Middelkoop and Jean-Julien Rojer. Having represented Canada for 25 years in Davis Cup, Nestor was contesting his 46 doubles rubber.

Middelkoop and Rojer kept the Dutch hopes alive with the two-hour and 34-minute victory. They denied five of six break chances, while striking 41 total winners. The European nation will turn to Robin Haase to extend the tie to a deciding rubber. He faces Milos Raonic in what will be their first meeting in five years.

FRANCE 3, SPAIN 0
Venue: Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille, FRA (Indoor hard)

After establishing a 2-0 lead in singles on Friday, defending champion France booked its place in a second straight Davis Cup final on Saturday in Lille.

Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut fired 27 winners to overcome Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez 6-0, 6-4, 7-6(7) at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. The Frenchmen won 81 per cent of first-serve points throughout the two-hour, three-minute contest to reach their fourth final in nine years and 19th championship match overall.

The 10-time champion narrows its head-to-head deficit against Spain to 3-6 and will face Croatia or the United States in the final, to be held from 23-25 November.

CROATIA 2, UNITED STATES 1
Venue: Sportski centar Visnjik, Zadar – (Outdoor clay)

Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison kept the United States’ hopes of a first Davis Cup trophy since 2007 alive, defeating Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic 7-5, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in Zadar.

With Croatia bidding to earn an unassailable 3-0 lead after winning both singles matches on Friday, Bryan and Harrison started well, edging the first two sets to take control of the third rubber. But Dodig and Pavic responded well with home support at the Sportski centar Visnjik, levelling the match at two sets all with impressive serving.

The Americans were not to be denied however, clinching victory after four hours and 43 minutes in a fifth-set tie-break to push the tie into a live third day of action. Bryan, who improves to 27-5 in Davis Cup doubles, and Harrison saved eight of 13 break points and landed 68 winners en route to victory.

The United States are attempting to defeat Croatia for the first time in five Davis Cup meetings. Croatia has overcome the 32-time champion in each of their four previous clashes between 2003 and 2016.

Did You Know?
Mike Bryan has now won five-set Davis Cup doubles rubbers with three different partners; Bob Bryan, Mardy Fish and Ryan Harrison.