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The duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat Illya Beloborodko and Oleksii Krutykh 6-3 4-6 6-3 to score the decisive Davis Cup Qualifiers point for the United States.
The United States' victory against Ukraine, which was considerably closer than the 3-0 scoreline suggests, sealed their spot in September's Davis Cup Finals Group Stage. "We feel great. It was a very tough match the whole way through. Their team was exceptionally good and competed really hard. They put us in a tough position by playing a great second set. I thought we did a good job raising our energy in the third and in playing well and serving well at big moments in the end," said Krajicek as quoted by ATP. "I think experience comes into it. We've both played in some really big situations. I thought we did a great job of raising our intensity and picking each other up," explained Ram after the win. Days at the Davis Cup don't get much better than the one Finland had on Friday when they grabbed a commanding 2-0 lead against Portugal in Turku. Otto Virtanen crushed Nuno Borges 6-2 6-1 in exactly an hour before Emil Ruusuvuori finished the day by conquering Joao Sousa, 6-2 6-3 in 68 minutes. Ruusuvuori spoke for the entire Finnish squad when he recounted the emotion of winning at home. "It's a record crowd, and I heard that tomorrow it's going to be even more packed, so I'm looking forward to that one", he said. That throng will swarm to the stadium, as Finland just needs one win on Saturday to qualify for the Davis Cup Finals for the second consecutive year. Their first chance will be in the doubles when Harri Heliovaara and Patrik Niklas-Salminen are scheduled to face Borges and Francisco Cabral. (ANI)
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