Stefanos Tsitsipas recovery ‘on track’ despite withdrawal from ATP Cup rubber

World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas played down concerns over his fitness ahead of the Australian Open after pulling out of his singles match for Greece in the ATP Cup

Tsitsipas had elbow surgery in the close season and withdrew from his tie with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in Sydney as a precaution. He later played in a dead rubber doubles match with Michail Pervolarakis.

“The recovery from my elbow surgery in November is on track for Melbourne and today was a precautionary step to make sure I make Melbourne,” Tsitsipas said on the ATP Cup website.

“We will see day by day, match by match until then.”

Hurkacz instead had to play Aristotelis Thanos and won 6-1 6-2 to seal a Group D win for Poland after Kamil Majchrzak had earlier beaten Pervolarakis 6-1 6-4.

Spain were victors over Chile thanks to singles wins for Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta.

Bautista Agut won nine of the first 10 games against Cristian Garin on his way to a 6-0 6-3 victory, while Carreno Busta earned a battling 6-4 7-6 (4) victory over Alejandro Tabilo, with Spain claiming a clean sweep by also winning the doubles tie.

World number 13 Diego Schwartzman guided Argentina to a routine victory over Georgia, while Serbia made light of Novak Djokovic’s absence as they beat Norway in the deciding doubles tie.

After Filip Krajinovic and Casper Ruud had won singles ties to make it 1-1, Krajinovic teamed up with Nikola Cacic to win the deciding rubber in straight sets.

On Sunday, Great Britain begin their campaign against Germany, Australia take on Italy, France face Russia, and Canada battle it out with the USA.