Davis Cup: Alex Molčan won. Slovakia defeated Romania – ŠPORT.SK

today 17:40 | Slovak tennis players have qualified for the Davis Cup final tournament for the fourth time in a row. In the duel of the 1st world group, they won 3:1 over Romania on clay in Bratislava’s NTC. Alex Molčan took care of the decisive third point, who outclassed Nicholas David Ionel 6:1, 6:1 in the duel of team units after a concentrated performance. The best Slovak singles player succeeded against the Romanians in both doubles matches, and on Friday he dealt with Marius Copil. On Saturday, doubles players Lukáš Klein and Igor Zelenay won an important second point after a 7:6 (4), 6:2 triumph over Victor Vlad Cornea, Copil. In February 2023, the Slovaks will have a fourth opportunity to advance to the final tournament, the previous three attempts did not work out for them. In March they lost at home to the Italians 2:3, the year before last they lost to the Czech Republic 1:3 and in 2019 in Canada 2:3. Molčan fully confirmed the role of favorite against Ionel. With a score of 2:1, he broke the serve of the young Romanian thanks to great stop balls, broke his opponent again in the sixth game, and the first set clearly became his prey. Molčan made almost no mistakes in exchanges, he played variably, his shots from the baseline had the optimal length. In the opening game of the second act, after another textbook drop shot, he again took Ionel’s serve, after confirming the break, he took the lead 2:0 and already brought the match to a successful end. At 5:1, the Romanian converted the first match point after a forehand winner. Alex Molčan Source: TASR Friday’s victory over Copil gave Molčan a lot of confidence. “I played well against Ionel from the first ball. I didn’t have any stress or mental burden on me. I knew what I wanted to play, the drop shots worked. I would like to congratulate Luka for an excellent Davis Cup debut, it’s not easy. I was last year knocked out like a steak before the match against Cristiano Garin. We are an excellent team, we complement each other and we don’t have any arguments with each other. If we continue like this, I believe we will advance to the final tournament,” said the manager of coaches Marián Vajda and Karol Beck. The captain of the Slovak team, Tibor Tóth, was relieved that his team confirmed the role of the favorite against the Romanians. “I warned that it would not be an easy match. I am glad that we decided already in the opening singles on Saturday. I knew that the doubles could be a tip on the scales. I would like to highlight the performance of the debutant Lukáš Klein, who played a fantastic match, in the second set he dominated on the court. You could not see any nervousness on him. He and Igor complemented each other well, it was a symbiosis of youth and experience. Today Alex played two classes better than against Copil and tore Ionel to pieces. He confirmed his ranking position. I hope that we will finally be able to fight our way to the final tournament. The team has a perspective, Alex can still improve on the ranking and Lukáš also performs well in singles.” Davis Cup World Group 1 match: SLOVAKIA – Romania 3:1 Molčan – Ionel 6:1, 6:1