Davis Cup: Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram seal USA berth in finals

Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram sealed the United States’ spot in the Davis Cup finals group stage with Friday’s doubles win against the Ukraine. The US doubles pairing defeated Illya Beloborodko and Oleksii Krutykh 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the qualifier in Lithuania. Taylor Fritz then swept past Vladyslav Orlov 6-3, 6-4 to make it 4-0 for the Americans in the best-of-five matches. “I’m proud of the guys,” said US captain Bob Bryan as the record 32-time winners booked a place in the September group stage finals featuring 16 teams. The US have not won the title since 2007. “It was a tough match the whole way through,” said Krajicek. “They put us in a tough position by playing a great second set. “We did a good job raising our energy in the third and serving well at big moments.” On Thursday, Sebastian Korda and Davis Cup debutant Chris Eubanks won their singles matches. World number 33 Korda overcame Krutykh, a player ranked 309 places beneath the American, to earn a battling 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 victory in the opening rubber. Eubanks then beat 498th-ranked Viacheslav Bielinskyi 6-3, 6-2. Defending champions Italy and last year’s runners-up Australia, as well as Britain and Spain have advanced automatically to the finals. Serbia, without Novak Djokovic, are trailing Slovakia 2-0. Lukas Klein got Slovakia off the mark with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 win over Miomir Kecmanovic, with Alex Molcan rallying past Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. Nikola Cacic and Kecmanovic will bid to revive Serbia in the doubles before the reverse singles. Alexander Zverev is missing from the Germany team against Hungary due to illness, with all to play for with the tie level 1-1. Marton Fucsovics pulled Hungary level with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Lennard Struff after Dominik Koepfer beat Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 7-6 (7/4). Elsewhere, Finland lead Portugal 2-0, while the matches between both Sweden and Brazil, and the Netherlands and Switzerland are tied at 1-1.