Spain will play the Davis Cup by Rakuten Qualifiers against Romania on March 4 and 5 at the Puente Romano Tennis Club in Marbella (Málaga), a tie in which qualification for the 2022 Davis Cup finals is at stake. The team Captained by Sergi Bruguera , it is made up of Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño, Carlos Alcaraz, Alejandro Davidovich and Pedro MartÃnez. The city on the Costa del Sol is preparing to receive a series with a certain air of the traditional Davis Cup.
The elimination in the group stage last season has led Spain to play this tie in which their presence in the 2022 Davis Cup Finals is at stake. The Spanish team will host Romania in Marbella, in a tie where they start as clear favourites, not only because they are playing on clay and at home, but also because of the quality of all the members of the team.
Sergi Bruguera has called Bautista, Carreño, Alcaraz, Davidovich and Pedro MartÃnez, all of them within the top-50 of the ATP; while the team made up of Romania has tennis players with a much lower ranking. His main racket is Marius Copil , who was ranked number 59 in the ATP in 2019, but is now number 261. In doubles, his main asset is veteran Horia Tecau , 37, ranked number 17 and that he was part of the second best couple in the world several years ago.
The series is played to the best of five matches – four singles and one doubles-, resolved to the best of three sets. The first two individual matches will be played on Friday, while Saturday will start with the doubles, which will be followed by the other two individual matches.
A certain air to the traditional Davis
Marbella hosts a Davis Cup tie for the fourth time in its history. It already did so at the Puerto Banús bullring in 2009 and at the Puente Romano Tennis Club itself in 1989 and 2018. Although the competition was transformed in 2019, this weekend’s series between Spain and Romania is very reminiscent of the previous one format, since at this stage a first round of the Davis Cup was also being played, in which the factor of playing at home took on special importance and in which there were only two teams involved in each venue.
He also leaves the hard court to play these matches on clay, the favorite surface for the Navy. Those of Sergi Bruguera will fight against Romania to win the ticket to access the final phase of the competition, made up of 16 teams and thus continue their journey in search of a new Salad Bowl for Spanish tennis.
In recent weeks, the tournament announced that the group stage of the tournament will take place in September, instead of November, as planned. It will be held in four different venues, yet to be designated. This means that it recovers part of the old format, with rounds played at different times of the year, instead of concentrating them all in a single week.
