Ukraine and the US will play a Davis Cup qualifier in Lithuania because of the war with Russia
LONDON (AP) — Ukraine's Davis Cup qualifying matches against the United States will be played in Lithuania on Feb. 1-2 because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The other matches in this round of the men's team tennis competition are scheduled for Feb. 2-3 or Feb. 3-4. The latter dates include Lithuania hosting Georgia on indoor hard courts at the same arena in Vilnius as U.S.-Ukraine.
Ukraine was supposed to host the U.S. team for the best-of-five series, but fighting continues in the war that began when Russia invaded in February 2022.
U.S. captain Bob Bryan announced Friday that his roster will include Taylor Fritz, Sebastian Korda, Christopher Eubanks, Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. Fritz is the highest-ranked American man at No. 10 in this week's ATP rankings.
Vitaliy Sachko, who is ranked No. 169, is the top Ukrainian team member. He is joined by Oleksii Krutykh, Viacheslav Bielinskyi, Vladyslav Orlov and Illya Beloborodko.
The 12 winners from this round of qualifiers will advance to the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, along with reigning champion Italy, 2023 runner-up Australia, and wild-card entries Britain and Spain.
Other matchups: Slovakia at Serbia (which will be without No. 1 Novak Djokovic); South Korea at Canada; Belgium at Croatia; Germany at Hungary; Switzerland at Netherlands; Israel at Czech Republic; Portugal at Finland; France at Taiwan; Kazakhstan at Argentina; Brazil at Sweden; and Peru at Chile.
The Davis Cup matches come less than a week after the end of the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, which runs Jan. 14-28.
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