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South Korea moved within one victory of becoming the first Asian nation to reach the Davis Cup Final 8 after taking a 2-0 lead over India in the final qualifying round Friday.
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The South Koreans came from a set down in both matches.
Kwon Soon-woo beat Dhakshineswar Suresh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and then Hyeon Chung beat Sumit Nagal 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 at Seoul’s Olympic tennis center.
Doubles and reverse singles are scheduled for Saturday in the best-of-five match series.
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The winning teams advance to the finals in Bologna, Italy, in November.
The other matchups of teams competing for spots to join host and three-time defending champion Italy at the finals are: Chile vs. Spain; Germany vs. Croatia; Britain vs. Ecuador; Austria vs. Belgium; Czech Republic vs. United States; and Canada vs. France.
In the Czech-U.S. series in Prague, Learner Tien beat Jakub Mensik 6-2, 6-4 in his Davis Cup debut to give the 32-time champion Americans a 1-0 lead. U.S. Open finalist Ben Shelton was up next against Jiri Lehecka.
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Tien had only 15 unforced errors to Mensik’s 34.
The Final 8 format was introduced in 2022.
Kazakhstan reached the quarterfinals under a different format in 2021.
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See AP’s full tennis coverage here