Italy defeats Sweden to secure a spot in the Davis Cup Finals

The singles victories by Matteo Arnaldi and Lorenzo Sonego gave Italy an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Sweden in Bologna on Sunday, allowing them to advance as the seventh team to the Davis Cup Final 8.

Arnaldi, 22, defeated Sweden’s Leo Borg 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 22 minutes to go to the fourth round of the US Open.

Then, Sonego defeated Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-4 to put Italy up 2-0.

With a victory, the Italians, who just needed to win one of their matches to go ahead of Chile, will join group winners and reigning champions Canada at the main tournament in Malaga in November.

Since 2016, Italy has now reached the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup five times.

Along with Great Britain or France, Serbia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Finland, and Australia have also reserved their seats.

In their winner-takes-all encounter in Manchester, Dan Evans handed the home team the edge by defeating 19-year-old Arthur Fils 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

It will come down to the doubles as Ugo Humbert defeated Cameron Norrie 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, and 7-5 to square the match.

On Saturday, defending champion Canada moved to the Davis Cup Final 8, while the United States was defeated by Finland, who won 3-0 to go to the quarterfinals for the first time.

To give Finland its first-ever victory in the Davis Cup Finals group stage in Split, Croatia, Emil Ruusuvuori defeated Tommy Paul 7-6 (1), 6-4, saving the match on his fourth match point, and Otto Virtanen defeated Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (7).

In November, in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, Finland will join the Netherlands in making it out of Group D and into the Final 8.

Canada won 2-1 against Chile. Canada’s trip to Malaga was guaranteed by Alexis Galarneau’s 6-3, 7-6 (5) win against Alejandro Tabilo in the first encounter.

Nicolas Jarry defeated Gabriel Diallo 6-4, 6-4 to draw the match, but Galarneau and Vasek Pospisil defeated Marcelo 6-3, 7-6 (7) to win the match. Miguel Barrios Canada won Group A, thanks to Vera and Tabilo.

Australia, who finished second the previous year, guaranteed their return to the Final 8 with a 3-0 victory against Switzerland in Manchester.

Australia would have been dependent on the result of Britain’s match against France on Sunday had any of the matches ended in defeat.

Alex de Minaur defeated Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-4, 6-3, while Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Dominic Stricker 6-3, 7-5 to help Australia get off to a good start.

After beating Huesler and Stricker 6-2, 6-4, Max Purcell and Matt Ebden won their third match of the week in straight sets to claim one of the top two slots in Group B.

In order to win Group C, the Czech Republic defeated Serbia 3-0. Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek defeated Novak Djokovic and Nikola Cacic 7-5, 6-7(5), 10-3. With two victories each in Valencia, both nations were already through.