Sweden’s quest for a place in the Davis Cup group stage for the fourth year in a row got off to a decent start on Friday evening.
Karl Friberg, who got the chance instead of poster name Leo Borg, started the meeting with Brazil by taking on the more than 200 places higher ranked Thiago Monteiro. As expected, it was tough for the 24-year-old Davis Cup debutant.
Friberg lost the initiative after a cautious start to the match and then had to chase. In the second set, he looked more and more comfortable against the much more experienced Brazilian and managed to force four set points, but without converting any of them into a set victory.
Won after two hours
Instead, Monteiro emerged victorious 6-3 7-6(5) after almost two hours of play.
Friberg’s loss meant an early must-match for Elias Ymer. Sweden’s singles team, which started the season with two losses, faced Brazil’s Gustavo Heide and had a tough start to the match. The Brazilian got a nice result on his serve while Ymer lined up simple mistakes in the first set which quickly disappeared in favor of the brass with 6-4.
– It felt like I was moving very well. I have worked a lot on my physique, says Ymer after the match and also takes the opportunity to pay tribute to his compatriot.
– I think Karl made an incredible debut. He had four set points in the second set. Had he taken them, we might have been 2-0 by now. There are small margins.
Ymer held serve
But after a marathon game early in the second set, the match turned in Sweden’s favor. Ymer did not drop a single point on his first serve in the second and third sets and tore up big holes in Heide’s game with nice returns, good serving and good variation in the game.
He won the second set 6-1 and the third 6-3 after two service breaks.
Tomorrow the meeting continues with the doubles where Filip Bergevi and André Göransson settle with Rafael Matos and Felipe Meligeni Alves, a match that is followed by Elias Ymer’s meeting with Thiago Monteiro and Karl Friberg’s match against Gustavo Heide.
The broadcasts start at 1 p.m. on TV4 Play.