Pedro Martinez, Jaume Munar and Pablo Carreno Busta all contributed to Spain’s reverse sweep of Denmark on Sunday in Marbella to allow Spain to advance to the Davis Cup’s Final 8.
Spain’s dramatic comeback from down 2-0 completed the field of eight teams to advance. Earlier in the day, Belgium downed Australia 3-2 in Sydney.
Martinez made the most noise of all by upsetting World No. 11 Holger Rune 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Martinez fought off a match point with Rune serving at 5-3.
That came after Martinez began his day by pairing with Munar in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 doubles win over August Holmgren and Johannes Ingildsen.
“The feeling [at Davis Cup] is totally different,” Martinez said. “Maybe I get more nervous but, this adrenaline, it doesn’t work on some players. On me, it gives me an extra motivation to play full. I feel the nerves, but I can handle them, and I think this motivation plays in my favor.
“Hopefully I can continue playing like this in Davis Cup. For me, it’s one of the most important things in my career.”
Carreno Busta completed the comeback, dispatching Elmer Moeller 6-2, 6-3 to advance Spain to the Final 8 in Italy in November.
In other second-round qualifying action, Belgium nearly wasted its 2-0 lead before rallying behind the efforts of Raphael Collignon, a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 winner over Aleksandar Vukic that sent Belgium to Final 8 in the spot Australia was expected to claim.
Australia’s doubles pair of Rinky Hijikata and Jordan Thompson began the day with a 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 win over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen. World No. 8 Alex De Minaur followed that up with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Zizou Bergs, shaking off his upset loss to Collignon from the day before.
But Collignon got the last laugh, completing the exhausting rally against Vukic to give Belgium its first return to the Davis Cup Final 8 since 2018.
“Physically I was feeling OK,” Collignon told the Davis Cup website. “With adrenaline and the energy from the bench, it was crazy. I didn’t feel the legs at all. It was a crazy atmosphere and a crazy match.”
The Davis Cup Final 8 is scheduled for Nov. 18-23 in Bologna, Italy. Defending champion Italy is automatically in as the host nation. In addition to Spain and Belgium, Italy has been joined by the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Argentina and France.
–Field Level Media
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