Without Alcaraz, Spain beat Serbia 3-0 in Davis Cup Finals

LONDON: No Carlos Alcaraz, no problem for Spain.

In front of a partisan home crowd at Valencia, Spain cruised to a 3-0 win over Serbia in the Davis Cup Finals on Wednesday to move top of their group.

The top-ranked Alcaraz had arrived in Valencia the previous day but skipped the opening round, which was taking place only three days after the Spanish teenager won the US Open. He did appear during the national anthems, much to the crowd’s delight.

Sunday’s victory over Casper Ruud saw the 19-year-old Alcaraz become the youngest man to lead the ATP computerized rankings since they began in 1973.

But Albert Ramos Viñolas rallied to beat Laslo Đere 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the opening rubber that lasted just under three hours. And Roberto Bautista Agut prevailed 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) over Miomir Kecmanovic to secure victory.

The crowd roared in delight and Bautista Agut sunk to his knees after placing a backhand out of Kecmanovic’s reach after 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez beat Nikola Cacic and Dusan Lajovic 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 in the doubles to complete the whitewash of Serbia, who is without Novak Djokovic.

Granollers and Bautista Agut were part of Spain’s victorious Davis Cup team in 2019.

Three other venues — Bologna in Italy, Hamburg, Germany and Glasgow, Scotland — are hosting group-stage matches ahead of the single-venue quarterfinals that will be played in the southern Spanish city of Malaga in November.

In Group C in Hamburg, a home crowd helped propel Germany to their first win over France since 1938.

Jan-Lennard Struff put Germany in front with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Benjamin Bonzi, after the Frenchman failed to convert two match points. But Adrian Mannarino evened the tie with a