Spain celebrates qualification for Davis Cup finals 2024 after victories by Bautista Agut and Alcaraz despite losing doubles match against France

The match between Arthur Fils and Roberto Bautista Agut opened the Davis Cup 2024 group stage between France and Spain. After an exciting match, Bautista came back from behind in the second set and won 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 to give the Spaniards a 1-0 lead.

The match began with a long first service game from Bautista, in which the Spaniard suffered a tough break after fending off 3 break points and giving away 5 advantages. Bautista recovered by breaking Fils’ serve, but not half of it. The Frenchman continued to put pressure on his opponent’s serve and was able to win the game 2-1 and ultimately the set. In the second set, the score was tied at 1-1, when Arthur Fils took the match in his favor and was leading 3-1 at one point. Although Bautista was able to break his serve better, the Frenchman did not let it get him down and was only one game away from victory at 5-3. But the miracle was yet to come, and when Fils served to win the match, Bautista managed to break to level the score at 5-5. But he had to keep fighting to win the set. The first step was to confirm the break, which he did at 5-6. The Spanish team’s hopes rose as Bautista managed another break to equalize: 5-7 and it went into the third and decisive set. The match lasted until 3-4 for Roberto Bautista, when the Spaniard managed to break Arthur Fils’ serve to take a 3-5 lead and win the match, celebrating a memorable comeback. And so it happened, and Bautista made it 1-0 for Spain when it already looked as if the match was lost in the second set.

Carlos Alcaraz scored the 2-0 goal in the second game to secure the victory for Spain. The player from Murcia beat Ugo Humbert in an even match, which he won comfortably 3-6, 3-6.

The Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Pablo Carreño (who stepped in for Carlos Alcaraz at the last minute because team captain David Ferrer decided that the Spanish number 1 should conserve his strength and not play in the doubles) had already qualified for the Davis Cup final and went onto the court with a 2-0 lead for the doubles, but faced a French team that did not want to leave Valencia empty-handed. Both teams began the match with very good service games. Both the French and the Spanish were very confident on their own serve and did not even reach a deuce game in the first games. It was not until the seventh game that the French pressed on the return and generated the first break chance of the match, but Granollers was very accurate and was able to prevent it. In the end, it was the French who, after saving three points, did not let the set slip away and won the tiebreak 9-7. In an extremely even second set tie-break, the French managed to fend off two set points and despite having two match points, Granollers and Carreño did not give up, winning incredible points and eventually winning the second tie-break 12-10 in the last second. The French quickly took a 2-0 lead in the final set and put the Spanish duo under pressure, who still stayed close and were helped by the cheers of the crowd. France, however, were in their element and led 9-6, taking four points to close the match. Despite the greatest performance, France were strong on the decisive points and won the match 10-7.

Spain, which has already qualified, will play Australia on Sunday as it looks to win the tournament as Group B leaders. France, although it has no chance of advancing in the tournament, will play the Czech Republic on Saturday.