Frances Tiafoe was beaten for the second straight time in the Davis Cup Finals, with his latest defeat coming after a code violation on match point for smashing his racket into the ground following a disagreement with the chair umpire. Tiafoe’s 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2) loss to Tallon Griekspoor helped give the Netherlands a 2-1 victory over the United States in Group D in Split.
Tiafoe was upset because he wanted to replay a point following a challenge. He unsuccessfully argued with the umpire and the match referee, then returned to the court and smashed his racket four times, leading to his second code violation and the loss of a point. It resulted in the end of the match, as he was losing 6-2 in the tiebreaker. Botic Van de Zandschulp had beaten Tommy Paul 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the opening singles match. The U.S. later won the doubles with Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram defeating Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-3. Tiafoe, who reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open earlier this month, had lost to Croatian Borna Gojo in a tie the Americans won 2-1. The Netherlands had opened with a win against Finland and now lead the group. Defending champion Canada earlier defeated Sweden 3-0 to take the lead in Group A.
Gabriel Diallo secured the Canadians the point with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Elias Ymer. Vasek Pospisil had given Canada a 1-0 lead by defeating Leo Borg 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2. Borg is the son of 11-time Grand Slam champion Bjorn Borg. Canada won the doubles match in straight sets. The titleholders had opened their title defence with another 3-0 win over host Italy in Bologna, while Sweden was swept by Chile. Canada, on a 10-match winning streak, is trying to secure its spot in the quarterfinals for the third time in its last four appearances, while Sweden was looking to make it to the last eight for the second time in three years. Sweden had won the two times that the nations faced each other, including in the group stage in Madrid in 2021, though Canada was without its top stars at the time — Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. Australia rallied to defeat France 2-1 after Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell defeated Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-3 in the decisive doubles match in Group B in Manchester. In the singles, Adrian Mannarino had defeated Purcell, while and Alex de Minaur beat Ugo Humbert.
