An ominous Rafael Nadal was in cruise control for Spain at the ATP Cup on Monday but Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was forced to sweat through brutal conditions for his second win in a row.
Spanish World No. 1 Nadal swept past Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1 in just 73 minutes in Perth to ensure his country won a second consecutive tie and moved closer to the quarterfinals.
Djokovic was given a testing workout in his opening clash in Brisbane on Saturday by big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.
He was back to his dominant best against France’s Gael Monfils, but the sapping heat and humidity made the win hard.
The results: In Sydney: Group E: Croatia 2 bt Poland 1 {Marin Cilic bt Kacper Zuk 7-6(8), 6-4; Borna Coric lost to Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-2; Ivan Dodig & Nikola Mektic bt Hubert Hurkacz & Lubasz Kubot 6-2, 6-1}.
Austria 3 bt Argentina 0 {Dennis Novak bt Guido Pella 0-6, 6-4, 6-4; Dominic Thiem bt Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6(3); Oliver Marach & Jurgen Meltzer bt Maximo Gonzalez & Andre Molteni 6-1, 6-4}.
In Brisbane: Group A: South Africa 3 bt Chile 0 {Lloyd Harris bt Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4; Kevin Anderson bt Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-3; Raven Klaasen & Ruan Roelofse bt Cristian Garin & Nicolas Jarry 1-6, 6-3, [10-7]}.
Serbia 2 bt France 1 {Dusan Lajovic lost to Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2; Novak Djokovic & Viktor Troicki bt Nicolas Mahut & Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-7(5), [10-3]}.
In Perth: Group B: Japan 2 bt Georgia 1 {Go Soeda bt Aleksandre Metreveli 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Yoshihito Nishioka bt Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2, 6-3; Ben McLachlan & Toshihide Matsui lost to Aleksandre Bakshi & Zura Tkemaladze 6-2, 6-4}.
Spain 3 bt Uruguay 0 {Roberto Bautista Agut bt Franco Roncadelli 6-1, 6-2; Rafael Nadal bt Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1; Pablo Carreno Busta & Feliciano Lopez bt Ariel Behar & Juan Martin Fumeaux 6-1, 3-6, [10-3]}.
