Sebastian Korda started the 2024 Davis Cup Qualifiers tie between the United States and Ukraine with a win, though it wasn't an easy win against Oleksii Krutykh.
Korda and Taylor Fritz were supposed to play the matches for the United States, but the latter withdrew due to a hip injury. That immediately increased the pressure on Korda to deliver because Christopher Eubanks is a solid player who can win matches, but more is expected out of Korda, who is a more established and better-ranked player.
The American prevailed early on in this one, taking the opening set 6-3 behind 14 winners. Both players took advantage of the conditions and tried to play very aggressively, though the Ukrainian failed at that, totaling 18 unforced errors and only two winners.
Korda served pretty well in the opening set and a bit worse in the second set, allowing the Ukrainian more chances. The second set was a very competitive one because Korda missed quite a bit more.
His opponent had a break in hand twice but failed to serve it out both times, and the second set went to a tiebreak. Krutykh eventually won that second set to send the match into a third set, and that's the sort of complication Korda wanted to avoid.
The Ukrainian grew more confident as the match continued, but he never quite found the needed level from the baseline. He was still mostly missing, but Korda helped him with his own erratic play.
That somewhat stabilized for both in the final set, but Korda's more aggressive nature served him better overall. He took a break and served well enough to avoid giving any break points to his opponent.
That was enough to win the match 6-3 6-7(3) 6-4, with the USA taking a 1-0 lead over Ukraine. Now, it's up to Christopher Eubanks to deliver the second point.
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