We now know the eight quarterfinalists for the 2021 Davis Cup. On Monday, Italy will play Croatia in Turin, Italy. On Tuesday, Germany will play Great Britain from Innsbruck, Austria. On Wednesday, Serbia will play Kazakhstan from Madrid, Spain, and on Thursday, Russia will play Sweden from Madrid.
The fact that Serbia is in the final eight is noteworthy when you consider the fact they have the game’s number one player. Novak Djokovic already has two wins under his belt, as he defeated Dennis Novak of Austria 6-3, 6-2, and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-2, 6-4. However going forward, Serbia cannot win with Djokovic alone. They will need solid play from someone else–either Filip Krajinovic or Dusan Lajovic.
Italy needs to be a serious threat moving forward because of the sensational play in the Group E stage from Jannik Sinner. In his two wins from Turin, Sinner bageled his opponents, as he beat American John Isner, 6-2, 6-0, and then Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia, 7-5, 6-0.
Australia meanwhile did not get out of Group D despite beating Hungary on Saturday. The Group D winners were Croatia, who swept Australia on Thursday before beating Hungary 2-1 on Sunday.
Great Britain was led by Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie. Like Sinner and Djokovic, Norrie won both of his matches, as he defeated Arthur Rinderknech of France 6-2, 7-6, and Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.
The fact that Sweden and Kazakhstan both emerged out of Group B is interesting. This was a very weak Canadian squad which advanced to the 2019 Davis Cup Finals in Madrid. They were without their three top players in Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic, and thus were steamrolled by Sweden and Kazakhstan, which both advanced to the quarterfinals.
Like Canada, Spain also did not send their best team possible to the 2021 Davis Cup after winning two years ago. They were without the great Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut. As a result, they were defeated by Russia and did not reach the quarterfinals. The fact that the Russians have Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev on their team (two players ranked in the top five), make them the clear favourites moving forward. Medvedev led Russia with two wins, as he beat Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez, 6-0, 6-2, and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 7-6.
Russia has won the Davis Cup twice. In 2002, they were led by Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny. Then in 2006, they were led by Safin and Nikolay Davydenko.
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