Davis Cup: Denmark earn epic comeback win over Serbia, Argentina take out Norway
Holger Rune helped his country overturn a 2-0 deficit to Serbia but Casper Ruud couldn’t stop Norway from crashing out
Holger Rune, Australian Open, 2025 Virginie Bouyer / Tennis Majors
All the magic, and the agony, of the Davis Cup was on display today.
Magic for the Danes, agony for the Serbs. The latter were eliminated on Saturday in Copenhagen, at the end of an incredible tie in which Denmark overturned a 2-0 deficit, as Hamad Medjedovic’s brilliant victory over Holger Rune, beating the Dane 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, was ultimately in vain.
Elmer Moeller, the world No 141 and only 21 years old, later beat Medjedovic on Saturday in three sets (1-6, 6-4, 6-3) to complete the Danish comeback. Mueller was also down a set and a break against the Serb in this match.
In the end, though, it was Moeller’s day as team captain Rune took on the mantle of playing doubles and singles (victory 6-2, 6-4 against Miomir Kecmanovic) to wrap up a remarkable comeback. A leader is what the Serbs lacked as they played without the injured Novak Djokovic – a presence sorely missed.
However, it was not a victorious day for all of Scandinavia.
Norway ended up losing at home in Oslo to Argentina (3-2). Casper Ruud had beaten Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-3 to bring his country back to 1-1 on Friday, but it was the same Navona who would seal Norway’s fate on Saturday by winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive match against Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, the 18-year-old Junior No 1 who gave a good account of himself on Friday when he lost to Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(5). Ruud did everything he could by winning his two singles but he couldn’t turn move Norway ahead in the doubles, which was the pivotal loss.
In the other matches, Japan got the better of Great Britain thanks to Kei Nishikori’s victory in the last match against Bill Harris (6-2, 6-3). The Japanese were down 2-1 in a match where the absence of Jack Draper was inevitably felt on the British side. Alex de Minaur’s Australia beat Sweden (3-1), the United States were not troubled by Taiwan (4-0), the Czechs beat South Korea (4-0), Germany eased through against Israel (3-1) and Croatia got the better of Slovakia (3-1).
