Saturday brought some great tennis in the first round of the Davis Cup, with many teams taking leads after the doubles matches, but Sunday proved to be just as exciting, if not more, and featured some great tennis from some of the greatest players in the world.
Serbia fell behind Kazakhstan on Saturday 2-1 but rallied back Sunday and started the day with an exciting five set match staring the world's number one tennis player: Novak Djokovic. Djokovic battled back to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and tied the series 2-2.
While Djokovic closed out the first singles match of the day, Serbia's Viktor Troicki stepped up big in his match, winning in three straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. "I was nervous." Troicki said. "Thank you Novak for the amazing victory." Djokovic said the five set match against Kukushkin was probably the "most psychologically and physically difficult match" in his career.
Serbia made a come back on Saturday with a huge match from their star player, and the U.K. would get the same result out of their tennis star Andy Murray. The Great Britain second ranked tennis player led his country to huge five set win over the sixth ranked player in the world Japan's Kei Nishikori 7-5, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.
The match moved Great Britain into the quarterfinals and lasted almost five hours long. The U.K. will now face Serbia in the quarterfinals, and Djokovic will look to lead his country over the reigning Davis Cup champions.
Serbia and Great Britain weren't the only two nations to get huge matches from their top ranked players, as the U.S.' top tennis star, John Isner, led his country to the quarterfinals with a big win Saturday. The world's 11th ranked tennis player beat the world's 20th ranked player Australia's Bernard Tomic in four sets 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4).
The U.S. now moves on to the quarterfinals and faces Croatia, who beat Belgium 3-2 in the first round of the Davis Cup tournament. The Czech Republic also punched their ticket to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Germany Sunday, as Lukas Tosol beat Germany's Alexander Zverev in three straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Czech Republic will now face France in the quarterfinals, who handled team Canada in the first round of the Davis Cup 5-0.
Both Argentina and Italy also moved onto the quarterfinals and feature the fourth matchup of the Davis Cup quarterfinals, which are scheduled to start on July 15.
