Even without Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish tennis team showed quality and resiliance and beat Czech Republic in Davis Cup quarter-finals, despite the much worst combined ranking of all their players.
The morning started with a defeat: Jakub Mensik (ranked 19 in the world) defeated Pablo Carreño Busta (World No. 89) 7-5, 6-5. But coach David Ferrer was right when he asked to give themselves some credit, after all, the team formed by Carreño, Jaume Munar, Pedro Martínez and Marcel Granollers had managed to qualify for Davis Cup Final 8 without the help of World No. 1. (and without Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, World No. 14, who wasn’t at the epic comeback against Denmark in September and isn’t now in Bologna).
And things changed when Jaume Munar beat Jiri Lechecka 6-3, 6-4 and set a final doubles match between Marcel Granollers (former World No. 1 in doubles) and Pedro Martínez, defeating Tomas Machac and Jakub Mensik 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (10-8) to secure qualification for semi-finals next Saturday, against Argentina or Germany.
