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Doubles’ win by Sock, Harrison puts US in Davis Cup semis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Jack Sock and Ryan Harrison put the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 2012 by beating Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 5-7, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3), 6-4 Saturday to finish off an American sweep.
The United States now will play either Croatia or Kazakhstan in the semifinals Sept. 14-16.
John Isner and Sam Querrey set up the doubles match for the clincher by winning both their singles matches Friday at the Curb Events Center at Belmont University. Sock, who came in ranked 26th in doubles, and Harrison, 17th in the world, put the U.S. into the semifinals after taking three hours to finish off the Belgians.
The U.S. now is 5-0 all-time in the Davis Cup against Belgium.
For Gille and Vliegen, this was their Davis Cup debut coming only a few hours away from where both played in college. Gille went to East Tennessee State, while Vliegen played at East Carolina. The Belgians broke Sock and Harrison in Game 11 and took the first set 7-5 showing no signs of nerves as they scored on 80 percent of their first serves.
The Americans took the second set by fighting off two break points in Game 11, then they dominated by taking the final six points.
In the third set, Vliegen started struggling with cramps and had a foot fault when serving in Game 11. The Americans had three break points, but the Belgians fought them off to go up 6-5.
Sock and Harrison finished off the set again in a tiebreaker, and they avoided a third tiebreaker by breaking the Belgians to finish off the quarterfinals and start the American celebration before the raucous crowd.
France took a 2-1 lead over Italy with Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beating Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Germany leads Spain 2-1 after Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff downed Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Croatia took a 2-1 lead over Kazakhstan with Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic beat Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
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