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Mago Coria trusts his “great team” to face Finland, although he is concerned about the state of the pitch

“Hopefully it will be a playable court, similar to the ones that are played in circuit tournaments,” said the Davis Cup captain, worried about the few days to practice.

The Argentine team of Davis cup He carried out his first training session on Monday Finlandfacing the duel for the Qualifiers to the 2023 Finals, which will be held between Saturday and Sunday in Espoo. Although he still could not test the surface where the matches will be played. is that the Espoo Metro Arena, which will host the series, will only be available on Wednesday, because this Tuesday it will host another event. For this reason, as was already known before leaving for Europe, those led by Guillermo Coria They will only be able to step on the main court of the venue on Thursday and they will have two days to adapt to the surface.

“We’ll see how the surface is”, the Argentine captain limited himself to saying after the first practice, which took place in the Tali Tennis Centera complex of 22 indoor courts located about 15 kilometers east of Espoo.

Before traveling to Finland, Coria had commented: “Hopefully it will be a playable court, similar to the ones that are played in circuit tournaments. We have very few days to try it out. I hope the boys can adapt quickly and fight.”



Cachín, 27, will debut in Davis against Finland. AAT Press Photo

The Argentine training this Monday began with the three singles, Francisco Cerundolo24th in the world, Pedro Cachín68°, y Facundo Bagnis88°, rallying under the watchful eye of Coria, the sub-captain martin garcia and the technical assistant Leonardo Mayer. Then it was the turn of the doubles players, Andres Molteni36th in the ranking of that specialty, and Maximo Gonzalez45°.

On Tuesday, the work day will be repeated on the same stage. On Wednesday, the team will be able to rally on the auxiliary courts of the Espoo Metro Arena, a multipurpose stadium that usually hosts, mainly, ice hockey games and has a capacity for about 7 thousand people. And Thursday and Friday you will have access to the main court.

It is expected to be a very fast surface and indoors, the latter a necessary condition due to the low temperatures recorded in Finland at this time of year. For the weekend, values ​​of between 8 and 1 degrees below zero are forecast, with probabilities of snowfall.

Coria and Bagnis, the other rookie, analyze data from the first training session in Finland.  AAT Press Photo


Coria and Bagnis, the other rookie, analyze data from the first training session in Finland. AAT Press Photo

Coria was excited about the “great team” that he was able to put together for the clash with the Finns, despite some important absences, with warning, such as that of Diego Schwartzman28th best Argentine singer of today, and Horace Zeballos, the most prominent doubles player in our country. Although the captain also anticipated a very tough duel.

Argentina arrives with only one single player with experience in Davis: Cerúndolo, 24, who played two games in the group stage last year, in Bologna, with a 0-2 record, although with good feelings. Cachín, 27, and Bagnis, 32, will debut in the competition.

Finlandmeanwhile, will have its strong card in Emil Ruusuvuori, 23 years old and 43rd in the world. The man born in Helsinki is the only player from his country in the top 100 of the ATP ranking and will be accompanied by Otto Virtanen (181°), eero vasa (1.042°), Patrik Niklas Salminen (1.326°) y Harri Heliovaara, the only specialist in doubles and number ten in the world in that discipline. But the Scandinavian is a team that becomes very strong at home and feels very comfortable playing on fast indoor courts.

Molteni will play his second series.  The first was in 2007, in the defeat against Kazakhstan, also as a visitor.  AAT Press Photo


Molteni will play his second series. The first was in 2007, in the defeat against Kazakhstan, also as a visitor. AAT Press Photo

“We are going to face a very difficult opponent, in a series where all the points are going to be even,” Coria analyzed. “The team is doing very well. Hopefully we can win and return to the final phase, which is where Argentina deserves to be.”

And he added: “We have three singles and a fixed doubles. In that sense, perhaps they are more concerned because they do not have a stable partner, and their singles player may have to play doubles. That can make the physical part weigh, because on Saturday we start playing in the afternoon and the next day, at noon. But we have to focus on what’s ours”.

The series will begin on Saturday at 12:00 in our country, with two singles matches that will cross the first single player from one team against the second from the other, and vice versa. The order of play will be drawn on Friday.

Machi González is a guarantee in doubles.  AAT Press Photo


Machi González is a guarantee in doubles. AAT Press Photo

On Sunday, from 8.00, the doubles will be played, followed by the clash between the No. 1 of each country. And then, if necessary, the crossover between the 2 singles. All matches will be televised by TyC Sports.

The winner will advance -along with the winners of the other 11 Qualifiers crosses- to the 2023 Finals, where they will join the 2022 champions and runners-up and two wild cards, to complete a table of 16 nations. The group stage will take place the week of September 11-17, in four venues to be confirmed. And Final 8, from November 21 to 26 in Malaga.

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