[Otocolobus manul]

Roberto Bautista Agut, currently ranked 9th in the world, defeated the 679th-ranked Aleksandre Metreveli from Georgia.

Metreveli achieved his highest ranking of 264th on 6 June 2016. His grandfather, Alex Metreveli, is a former World No. 9 who beat Jimmy Connors en route to 1973 Wimbledon final.

Metreveli did show some great defense in rallies, mainly at the beginning of the match, which provided him several opportunities to put himself on the board. However, the superior consistency and experience allowed the Spaniard to win 12 games in a row and got Team Spain a 1-0 lead.

Nadal vs Basilashvili due up.

 

[BodyServe]

Isn't Metreveli the guy who had that bad car crash? It's good that he can still play tennis but he must have a poor serve to be losing like that.

 

[Otocolobus manul]

Yes, Mertreveli had a severe car crash in 2016.

I think his serve is OK. He served 5 aces in the match.

 

[guitarra]

Must have been a really exciting encounter with this Machiavelli guy.

 

[Manu_ser]

Watched the first three games of the match and the Georgian player was panting already after a long ten minutes game in which he eventually got broken.

 

[enlightenedth]

Spain can beat any other team, but countries with only one decent player (Georgia, Moldova, Greece etc.) have almost no chance of doing something at this tournament. I don't really like the format.

 

[CooCooCachoo]

This result tells you exactly why the ATP Cup has a dumb format.

 

[Rumour]

Damn.

Spain can beat any other team, but countries with only one decent player (Georgia, Moldova, Greece etc.) have almost no chance of doing something at this tournament. I don't really like the format.

This result tells you exactly why the ATP Cup has a dumb format.

There are too many teams for a start, should be no more than 12-16 max. Tennis simply doesn't have enough depth across the board to stage a competitive tournament involving 24 nations in this kind of format.

 

[MWW]

it's just too OP the ranking differential.

 

[devision2002]

Georgia has nothing to do here, it is just pathetic to see some nations here like Uruguay, Georgia, or Moldavia.
And when Norway beats USA, you really wonder if players care about this event. There are just here for the preparation of the AO, the money and maybe for some the points. The tournament should have been limited to 16 teams, with 4 groups of 4, and the best 2 teams of each group to qualify for the QF. The results of this event are meaningless to me.

 

[Bakano]

I agree, it's an unnecessary event. Clownish.

 

[Mr.Swiss]

i would honestly have preferred if it they either kept the hopman cup or expanded it to the number o teams it is now. 1 mens, 1 womens match and a mixed doubles.

 

[Mr.Swiss]

Georgia has nothing to do here, it is just pathetic to see some nations here like Uruguay, Georgia, or Moldavia.
And when Norway beats USA, you really wonder if players care about this event. There are just here for the preparation of the AO, the money and maybe for some the points. The tournament should have been limited to 16 teams, with 4 groups of 4, and the best 2 teams of each group to qualify for the QF. The results of this event are meaningless to me.

yeah. im only watching it because of david. there are some players like fognini who were totally honest in what they think of this thing. you can understand why lower ranked players would like it

but norway beating the US was brilliant. with fognini admittedly not giving a fuck there's a chance they could take down italy too. it would be a story

 

[Nepoznati Knez]

Damn.



There are too many teams for a start, should be no more than 12-16 max. Tennis simply doesn't have enough depth across the board to stage a competitive tournament involving 24 nations in this kind of format.

More than the total number of teams (Portugal Czech Republik Sweden Kazakhstan Korea or Slovakia could have been far better opponents) problem is the way teams are selected.

In that field, DC was far more efficient with structured qualies.

Of course it would have been a shame when Tsitsipas could not enter (because of ATP points) but Greece Moldova Georgia or Uruguay may have a top 30 player but are not Tennis Nations in years 2010ish.