Nakashima’s perfect week helps USA top group in Zhuhai

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/brandon-nakashima/n0ae/overview'Brandon Nakashima/a continued his 2024 resurgence in style on Saturday in Zhuhai. /p

p The 23-year-old completed a perfect week of singles action for the USA in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/maximilian-marterer/mn13/overview'Maximilian Marterer/a. With his 86-minute win, Nakashima helped his country earn a 2-1 victory against Martererrsquo;s Germany, simultaneously ensuring the USA a first-place finish in Group C and a seeding at Novemberrsquo;s knockout stage. /p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"Job done ✅br /

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United States defeat Germany 2-1 to top group C in commanding fashion!a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DavisCup?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#DavisCup/a a href="https://t.co/3kk4na2cOk"pic.twitter.com/3kk4na2cOk/a/p

mdash; Davis Cup (@DavisCup) a href="https://twitter.com/DavisCup/status/1834950840215368178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"September 14, 2024/a/blockquote

script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script

p "Each person on this team brings great value,rdquo; said Nakashima, who dropped just one set across his three wins this week. ldquo;We all like to bring out the best in each other and to really enjoy every second out there on the court and off the court as well. Irsquo;m really happy with everyonersquo;s performance this week and to all the staff and all the players, I really appreciate all their hard work. /p

p ldquo;I think we have a good chance against any team there [in Malaga]. Therersquo;s a bunch of talented Americans playing really well right now. Whoever is going to be on the team will give us a great shot against any other team out there, so itrsquo;s definitely an exciting time for American tennis and Irsquo;m really looking forward to it.rdquo; /p

p After a difficult 2023, the 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a champion Nakashima began this year as the World No. 134. He has rediscovered his form in recent months, however, and was competing for USA this week at a career-high No. 40 in the PIF ATP Rankings. /p

p/p

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/reilly-opelka/o522/overview'Reilly Opelka/a set USA on its way on Saturday in China with a 6-7(4), 7-6(9), 6-3 triumph against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/henri-squire/s0ak/overview'Henri Squire/a in the opening singles rubber. The 32-time Davis Cup champion was unable to make it a hat-trick of 3-0 wins in Group C, however, after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/kevin-krawietz/kb92/overview'Kevin Krawietz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tim-puetz/pc68/overview'Tim Puetz/a downed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/austin-krajicek/ka00/overview'Austin Krajicek/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rajeev-ram/r548/overview'Rajeev Ram/a 6-1, 7-6(4) in the doubles rubber. /p

p ldquo;We knew we were going to the next stage in Malaga, but we used [the chance to achieve] a better seeding as our motivation to try and win today,rdquo; said Opelka. /p

p Despite defeat on Saturday, Germany will join USA in the Davis Cup Final 8 thanks to victories earlier this week against Slovakia and Chile. The knockout stage of the 2024 edition of the teamsrsquo; event will take place in Malaga, Spain from 19-24 November. /p

pIn Group D, Argentina clinched its tie against Finland with wins from a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-martin-etcheverry/ea24/overview'Tomas Martin Etcheverry/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/francisco-cerundolo/c0au/overview'Francisco Cerundolo/a to pick up its second Davis Cup victory in Manchester./p

pEtcheverry won 78 per cent of his first-serve points against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/eero-vasa/v993/overview'Eero Vasa/a en route to a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory. The 25-year-old has won back-to-back singles victories at the Davis Cup after he defeated Great Britainrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniel-evans/e687/overview'Daniel Evans/a earlier in the week./p

pCerundolo rallied back to defeat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/otto-virtanen/v0am/overview'Otto Virtanen/a 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-0, converting five of his 11 break point opportunities. The No. 31 in the PIF ATP Rankings also saved four break points as he closed out the match in one hour, 45 minutes./p

pIn Group A, Brazil sealed its tie against Belgium in Bologna. /p

p#NextGenATP talent a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/joao-fonseca/f0fv/overview'Joao Fonseca/a, who made his Davis Cup debut earlier this week against Italy, claimed a 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 win over a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/raphael-collignon/c0jp/overview'Raphael Collignon/a to secure consecutive wins following his straight-set victory over a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/botic-van-de-zandschulp/v812/overview'Botic van de Zandschulp/a on Thursday./p

pThe 18-year-old, who currently sits sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah, hit 19 winners and seven aces as he battled past 22-year-old Collignon in one hour, 51 minutes./p

p30-year-old a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thiago-monteiro/mj08/overview'Thiago Monteiro/a outlasted a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/zizou-bergs/bu13/overview'Zizou Bergs/a in a mammoth match, recovering from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in two hours, 44 minutes. The tight match was underlined by the narrow points totals, with Monteiro winning just one less point than his opponent. /p

pThe doubles tie will see Belgiumrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sander-gille/gd32/overview'Sander Gille/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/joran-vliegen/v895/overview'Joran Vliegen/a face off against Brazilrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-matos/mo41/overview'Rafael Matos/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/felipe-meligeni-alves/mw75/overview'Felipe Meligeni Alves/a./p

pnbsp;/p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p