By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, February 1, 2024
Christopher Eubanks and Sebastian Korda each scored singles wins to put the United States within one win of a return to the Davis Cup World Group.
Credit: Saulius Čirba
Surround sound came to the SEB Arena today.
American singles stars Sebastian Korda and Christopher Eubanks threw down booming big serves echoing around the arena. Decisive strikes and a response to second-set stress from Korda drove Team USA to the brink of returning to the Davis Cup World Group.
More: Richard Evans Q&A
In his Davis Cup debut, Eubanks defeated Viacheslav Bielinskyi 6-3, 6-2 to stake the United States to a 2-0 lead over Ukraine in this best-of-five match Davis Cup qualifier.
Earlier, Korda conquered a tricky Oleksii Krutykh 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 overcoming a second-set lapse to prevail in two hours, 12 minutes.
The first team to three wins the tie and advances to the 16-nation DGroup Stage of the 2024 Davis Cup Finals that will be played across four cities, to be determined, September 10-15th.
Depth and experience are massive advantages for Team USA against a Ukrainian squad, whose highest-ranked singles player, No. 165 Vitaliy Sachko, was not chosen as a singles starter by captain Orest Tereshchuk.
Captain Bob Bryan inserted Eubanks as singles starter this morning after American No. 1 Taylor Fritz was forced out of this tie with a right hip issue.
The 6’7” Eubanks, nicknamed “Big Banks” by his teammates, asserted his authority from the start and performed like a veteran amid the pressure of his Davis Cup debut.
“We accomplished our goal. We were looking to get two points on the board today and I'm really happy with the result," Captain Bryan said. "I love the way that Sebi fought. He faced some adversity there against a guy that was playing very high-level tennis. Sebi went over the top and played beautifully in the third to give us a 1-0 lead, and that was important, especially with Chris playing his first match.
"I'm so proud of Chris and Sebi, the way they've practiced and worked all week. It really showed in the tennis today. Chris played some really scary ball.”
Ranked 456 spots higher than No. 498 Bielinskyi, Eubanks exploited the Ukrainian’s ultra deep return position mixing in some serve-and-volley, running around his backhand to rip forehands in the corner that sent the scrappy 20-year-old sliding, skidding and sometimes sprawling on the blue hard court battling to put the ball back in play.
“I started off pretty nervous, I’ve been nervous all day since I found out I was going to play,” Eubanks said. “I got on court, things calmed down and I felt I played a really high level.”
Eubanks served 75 percent, denied six of seven break points and pumped 15 of his 19 winners off his fierce forehand wing.
Most importantly, he was decisive in his shotmaking and declarative off his serve and forehand.
“My forehand is one of my strengths, along with my serve, so if I can make a lot of serves and finding a lot of forehands usually I can play some pretty good tennis,” Eubanks said. “We still have one more match to go. This is a very feisty, talented Ukrainian team so we don’t want to overlook them. They’re going to come out with a good fight tomorrow and we have to be ready for it.”
This is a home tie for Ukraine staged on indoor hard court at the 1,500-seat SEB Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania for safety reasons due to Russia’s ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The United States’ duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram can clinch victory tomorrow when they face Vitaliy Sachko and Illya Beloborodko in the doubles match starting at 5 p.m. local time, which is 10 a.m. Eastern time.
If Ukraine wins the doubles to keep its hopes alive then Eubanks is scheduled to face Krutykh in the third singles followed by Korda vs. Bielinskyi—if necessary—in the final match.
Friday’s schedule can be amended if either team clinches victory in the third or fourth match, and captains may make substitutions to Friday’s lineups up to one hour prior to match time for the doubles and up to 15 minutes after the previous match for the singles.
Holding a 3-2 lead, the 6’7” Eubanks was quick off the mark running down a fine drop shot and shoveling a reply down the line. Snapping a forehand return brought Eubanks a second break point, but he sailed a backhand long.
Continuing to attack, Eubanks floated forward and thumped a smash for a fourth break point. Unrelenting pressure provoked the break as Bielinskyi spit up his first double fault to cede the break and a 4-2 lead.
By then, Eubanks had won seven of nine points played on Bielinskyi’s second serve.
The Ukrainian shook it off. Using the top of the tape as an ally, Bielinskyi boomed a running forehand pass that seemed to skim the net and scoot away from Eubanks to break back in the seventh game.
The Eubanks forehand was the biggest groundstroke on the court. Eubanks cracked a crosscourt forehand for his second straight break and a 5-3 lead.
Exploiting his opponent’s deep return position, Eubanks slammed an ace and sliced a serve winner wide closing a one-set lead.
Davis Cup debutant Eubanks showed no signs of stress striking eight more winners—10 to 2—than Bielinskyi in the 38-minute opening set.
A focused Eubanks charged out to a 4-0 second-set lead and never looked back winning his Davis Cup debut in 78 minutes.
Korda cruised through the opening set, watched the world No. 342 lift his level and play more proactive tennis to take the second set as the American grew passive for a bit before Korda closed with his most dynamic serving of the match.
Credit the stubborn Krutykh for elevating his game and actually taking the offensive against Korda in critical stages of the second set. At times in the tiebreaker Krutykh was forcing the American to defend from the baseline.
Urged on by captain Bryan and his teammates, Korda kept calm and played with more purpose in the decider whipping his backhand down the line and serving with command.
The 33rd-ranked Korda cranked six of his 16 aces on his final two service games soaring through successive three-ace games to close.
“It was a great match the whole time,” Korda said in his on-court interview. “I didn’t play too well in the second set, but he played some great tennis in the second set.
“I'm just happy with the way I closed it out. A few bad misses and that’s the set. I’m grateful for my team they kind of kept me composed and motivated and I’m glad they way it ended.”
It was a solid start from Sebi who felt comfortable in the intimate 1,500-seat SEB Arena.
U.S. vs. Ukraine Davis Cup Qualifier
Thursday, February 1
Sebastian Korda (USA) d. Oleksii Krutykh (UKR), 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4
Chris Eubanks (USA) d. Viacheslav Bielinskyi (UKR), 6-3, 6-2
Friday, February 2
5 p.m. local time 10 a.m. Eastern time televised live by Tennis Channel
Austin Krajicek / Rajeev Ram (USA) vs. Vitaliy Sachko / Illya Beloborodko (UKR)
Chris Eubanks (USA) vs. Oleksii Krutykh (UKR)
Sebastian Korda (USA) vs. Viacheslav Bielinskyi (UKR)