ZHUHAI: Brandon Nakashima and Reilly Opelka won their singles matches on Wednesday, giving the United States an unassailable 2-0 lead over Chile in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in Zhuhai, China.
Nakashima beat Alejandro Tabilo 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (3) after Reilly Opelka defeated Cristian Garin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3), giving the Americans an early lead following the 2-hour, 26-minute opener.
The two singles matches lasted more than five hours, with a doubles match still to be played.
Four groups are competing in four cities this week to qualify for the Final 8 knockout stage, to be held in Málaga, Spain, in November. The top two countries in each four-team group will advance.
The United States, which has a leading 32 Davis Cup titles – its most recent in 2007 was over Russia – is bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the second time since the Davis Cup Finals were introduced in 2019.
In the qualifiers this year, the Americans defeated Ukraine 4-0 on neutral ground in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Later on Wednesday in Bologna, host Italy was scheduled to play Brazil in Group A. At Valencia, Spain was set to play the Czech Republic in Group B and, in Group D at Manchester, Britain was scheduled to play Finland.
In the opening play on Tuesday, Belgium beat the Netherlands 2-1, Australia defeated France 2-1, Germany, playing without No. 2-ranked Alexander Zverev, beat Slovakia 3-0, and Canada defeated Argentina 2-1.
Italy won the 2023 title, beating Australia in the final.