Kwon Pushes South Korea Past China In Davis Cup Action

Soonwoo Kwon placed South Korea in the 2020 Davis Cup qualifying on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Yan Bai of China. South Korea led 2-0 before Sunday, and China’s Mao-Xin Gong/Ze Zhang edged Ji Sung Nam/Min-Kyu Song 7-6(6), 7-6(5) to put China on the scoreboard and extend the tie.

But Kwon, No. 81 in the ATP Rankings, won his second singles match of the tie to help Korea advance. Czech Republic finished off Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-2, led by US Open juniors boys’ champion, 18-year-old Jonas Forejtek, who won the deciding match 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-1 against Tomislav Brkic.

Ecuador routed Venezuela 4-0; and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, No. 44 in the ATP Rankings, won all three of the matches he played in to propel his country to a 3-1 victory against the Dominican Republic.

The tie between Hungary and Ukraine, even at 2-2, was postponed because of darkness during its fifth and final match. Play is scheduled to resume on Monday in Budapest with Hungary’s Attila Balazs leading Ukaine’s Ilya Marchenko 6-4, 5-5.

Davis Cup Group I and Group II ties are promotion and relegation ties for 2020. Group I victors this week will filter into 2020 Davis Cup qualifiers in February. They do not affect the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, which already features 16 teams.