Daily Times

France crashed out of the Davis Cup Friday when world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz beat Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-3 in the second rubber in Valencia with a convincing display.

Earlier, the defeat of Arthur Fils to Roberto Bautista 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 put France 1-0 down and Humbert was unable to revive the French against a solid Alcaraz in front of a home crowd.

Since the reform of the Davis Cup in 2019, France has never managed to get beyond the group stage.

Spain and Australia with two successes each have booked their ticket for the Final 8 in Malaga at the end of November and will compete for the head of this group B on Sunday.

“It was the goal since the beginning of the week, to qualify for Malaga,” Alcqaraz said.

“I was really, really focused, I was on a really high level of tennis and it’s one of the best matches that I’ve played this year.

“Seeing my last month I needed this kind of match and I’m really happy with my performance today.”

The United States booked their ticket to final eight series with a 3-0 win over Slovakia in Zuhai earlier Friday, with Germany also advancing.

Mackenzie McDonald beat Lukas Klein 6-4, 6-3 in the opening singles rubber before Brandon Nakashima eased past Jozef Kovalik 6-3, 6-3 to give the Americans an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram then teamed up in the doubles to battle past Klein and Norbert Gombos 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4), 10-1.

Bob Bryan’s US team, playing without top players including US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz and semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe, also beat Chile 3-0 earlier this week.