SIX of the eight quarter finalists at the Junior Davis Cup in Antalya, Turkey, have already booked their places with commanding wins over the first couple of days. Of the 16 matches players, 12 of them across three groups were won by six nations, securing their spots in the knockout final eight and effectively forcing the last round robin ties to be dead rubbers.

In the one group where the winners are yet to be decided, Russia gave its hopes of winning through to the quarter finals a huge boost with a 2-1 victory over Bulgaria. The result came after going down to Mexico 2-1 in the opening tie, with Bulgaria taking care of Tunisia in a 3-0 sweep, before Mexico did the same to the North African nation. Whilst Russia will be expected to take care of Tunisia in the final tie, it will need to rely on Mexico to win and guarantee a spot in the next stage, with the qualifiers then coming down to sets results if Bulgaria wins, due to the three nations being on two wins.

Following the big win over Tunisia, the Mexican team was in good spirits to be in the box seat heading into the final round, with singles players Luca Lemaitre and Rodrigo Pacheco grabbing singles wins, before the latter teamed up with Sebastian Medica to claim the clean sweep. Unlike Bulgaria and Russia, the progression through to the next stage is 100 per cent in the Central American nation’s own hands.

“We love to represent Mexico,” Pacheco told itftennis.com. “In addition to playing for ourselves, we also represent our country, which is a country that believes in us. It is positive because they give their all for us and we give our all for them.

“This makes you play at a better level and every point really does count. We do it all for the team, because this is not an individual competition, it is a competition for Mexico.”

Whilst their quarter finals birth is looking incredibly likely providing they do not get swept by Bulgaria, Medica said the team was just enjoying the moment and was determined to keep their good form running.

“We say, ‘Viva, viva, Mexico’ every time we play, and we hope we will be saying it every day until the end of this tournament,” Medica told itftennis.com.

“We are very happy to have won this tie against Tunisia and we are very happy to have also won against Russia. Tomorrow, we will give again our 100% to finish first in our group.”

For Bulgaria Iliyan Radulov has won three of his four matches, and Viktor Markov two of three to be the two key players for the European nation. Radulov has teamed up in doubles with both Markov – whom they defeated the Russian doubles pairing of Yaroslav Demin and Danil Panarin – and the Tunisian duo.

In other group results, tournament favourites France breezed past two of the lower ranked nations in the group stage, not dropping a match against both Egypt and Hong Kong, with Canada also defeating those two sides to set up an unbeaten clash with France in the final group stage tie. The French are expected to take care of the North American nation and advance through to the next stage, with the highly competitive third group also decided.

Germany and Argentina have booked their spots in the next stage, with the latter overcoming South American rivals Brazil 2-1, and doing the same against South Korea in the most recent tie. Germany stamped their authority in the opening two ties, winning in 3-0 sweeps as expected to head into the effective dead rubber with Argentina with both nations having booked their place in the final eight.

It was a similar story in Group 1, with the Czech Republic and Japan both knocking off Turkey and Chile in the opening two match ties. The European nation was able to win 3-0 against Turkey and 3-1 against Chile, whilst the reigning Junior Davis Cup champions – albeit from 2019 given the 2020 edition did not run – were able to breeze through without dropping a match, setting up a blockbuster top-of-the-table clash.

GROUP 1 RESULTS:

Czech Republic (3) defeated Turkey (0)
Japan (3) defeated Chile (0)
Czech Republic (2) defeated Chile (1)
Japan (3) defeated Turkey (0)

GROUP 2 RESULTS:

Mexico (2) defeated Russia (1)
Bulgaria (3) defeated Tunisia (0)
Mexico (3) defeated Tunisia (0)
Russia (2) defeated Bulgaria (1)

GROUP 3 RESULTS:

Germany (3) defeated South Korea (0)
Argentina (2) defeated Brazil (1)
Germany (3) defeated Brazil (0)
Argentina (2) defeated South Korea (1)

GROUP 4 RESULTS:

France (3) defeated Egypt (0)
Canada (3) defeated Hong Kong (0)
France (3) defeated Hong Kong (0)
Canada (2) defeated Egypt (1)

Picture credit: ITF Tennis