FRANCE 1, NETHERLANDS 1
Venue: Halle Olympique, Albertville, FRA (hard – indoor)

Frenchman Richard Gasquet, competing in his 23^rd Davis Cup singles rubber, drew France level at 1-1 against the Netherlands with a 6-4, 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 win against Robin Haase. Gasquet hit 37 winners, including 21 from his backhand, to avoid an 0-2 start for France, the defending Davis Cup champions.

Earlier in the day, because of injuries to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (knee) and Lucas Pouille (neck), Davis Cup debutant Adrian Mannarino opened play for the 10-time champions. The 29-year-old, who was training in Malta on Thursday morning, was beaten by World No. 369 Thiemo de Bakker 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3.

“I’ve been playing well the whole week,” de Bakker said. “I was a bit lucky in the first set – he probably deserved that one a bit more than me. But I kept hanging in there and in the second and third [sets] I really played well.

“I’ve played most of the guys in this [French] team and I know I can beat them. The chances are small, I know. They have better players, but anything can happen. The pressure is on them.”

BELGIUM 2, HUNGARY 0
Venue: Country Hall du Sart-Tilman, Liège, BEL (hard – indoor)

Last year’s finalist Belgium began its 2018 Davis Cup season in style as Ruben Bemelmans beat Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 to take a 1-0 lead in front of a partisan crowd in Liège. Bemelmans, ranked No. 120, was playing his first singles rubber since the 2015 final.

World No. 7 David Goffin wasted no time picking up his 17^th win in his past 18 Davis Cup singles matches with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win against No. 227 Attila Balazs. The Nitto ATP Finals runner-up dropped just five points on serve in the match and put Belgium one match win away from the quarter-finals.

SERBIA 0, USA 1
Venue: Sportski Centar Cair, Nis, SRB (clay – indoor)

Sam Querrey began the United States’ bid for a first win against Serbia with a confident 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win against No. 88 Laslo Djere. The World No. 12 won an impressive 91 per cent of points behind his first serve to give the USA a 1-0 lead in southern Serbia, where a number of USA fans have come to support their country.

“It’s great. The fact that a group of people travelled this far for the Davis Cup and are doing their best to compete with the Serbian fans means a lot to us,” Querrey said.

His countryman John Isner is battling Dusan Lajovic in the second singles rubber. The USA is looking to reach the quarter-finals for a third consecutive year.

CROATIA 1, CANADA 1
Venue: Sportska Dvorana Gradski Vrt, Osijek, CRO (clay – indoor)

Croatia’s Borna Coric defeated Vasek Pospisil 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to give the home nation a 1-0 lead. Coric had an 83 per cent success rate on points behind his first serve, and came from a set down to beat No. 85 Pospisil in just under two and a half hours.

#NextGenATP star Denis Shapovalov recorded his fifth win in Davis Cup to defeat Viktor Galovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. The Canadian levelled the tie in Osijek with four breaks of serve, winning in under two hours.

The busiest month on the 2018 ATP World Tour calendar begins Monday. February will see 12 tournaments contested in 10 countries on four continents… and you can watch it all on TennisTV.com.

Three ATP World Tour 250 tournaments begin next week in Sofia, Marseille and Quito. Playing on home soil, World No. 4 and defending champion Grigor Dimitrov leads the Sofia field, which also includes Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gilles Muller. Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin will be the top seed in Montpellier, where Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet will also compete. Flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils, Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas head to Quito, where players will battle at an elevation above 9,000 feet.

The following week marks the first ATP World Tour 500 event of the season in Rotterdam, where Dimitrov, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, defending champion Tsonga and Nick Kyrgios will be in action. The New York Open, a new 250 indoor tournament (Kei Nishikori, Kevin Anderson, Hyeon Chung), and the Argentina Open, Argentina’s 250 clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires (Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Monfils), are also part of a busy week.

Watch and enjoy an action-packed month of official ATP World Tour streaming on Tennis TV, which in 2018 will deliver increased live coverage of more than 260* matches from 12 tournaments in February.

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From 19 February the Rio Open presented by Claro, a 500 event in Rio de Janeiro, featuring Australian Open finalist Cilic and defending champion Thiem, highlights another busy week, which also includes 250 tournaments in Marseille (David Goffin, Wawrinka, Tsonga and Lucas Pouille) and Delray Beach. The long-running Delray Beach Open boasts one of its strongest-ever fields with Juan Martin del Potro, Jack Sock, US Open finalist Anderson, Sam Querrey, Milos Raonic, Kyrgios, Chung and Denis Shapovalov all playing.

The highlight of the month could come at the very end, with concurrent 500 events in Acapulco and Dubai set to determine who goes into Indian Wells as World No. 1. Rafael Nadal must reach at least the semi-finals in Acapulco to stop Roger Federer from reclaiming top spot for the first time in more than five years. Federer is weighing a decision to accept a wild card into Dubai. If he does play he is guaranteed to rise to No. 1 if he wins the title, regardless of what Nadal does in Acapulco.

Joining Nadal in Acapulco are Zverev, Thiem, Cilic, del Potro, Anderson and Querrey. Dimitrov leads the field in Dubai, where Pouille, Roberto Bautista Agut and Gasquet will also compete. The week of February 26 also sees the indoor clay 250 tournament in Sao Paulo, where defending champion Pablo Cuevas will be joined by Monfils, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fabio Fognini.

Click here for the full tournament schedule in February. All matches are available to watch on demand, all year-round on a range of devices, including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Xbox One.

Turn back the clock with Tennis TV’s 1990s archive!
Classic ATP matches from the 1990s are now available to watch on Tennis TV. Fans may now re-live every title match from the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals between 1990 and 2000. Fans can journey back in tennis history, including classic Sampras vs. Agassi encounters and matches featuring legends such as Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier. Throughout 2018 Tennis TV will roll out hundreds of classic matches.

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AUSTRALIA 1, GERMANY 1
Venue: Pat Rafter Arena, Brisbane, AUS (hard- outdoor)

Australia, the 28-time champion, is level at 1-1 with three-time winner Germany after the opening singles rubbers on Friday.

World No. 5 Alexander Zverev was pushed all the way by Sydney International finalist Alex de Minaur before prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in just under four hours. The German No. 1 trailed by two sets to one and found himself down 0-3 (40-A) when serving in the decider, but found a way back into the match and secured a vital first point for the visiting nation with a final-set tie-break win. “I hope that will be the deciding point to get the win,” said Zverev. “We need three points, we’ve got one. We’ve got two more to go.”

Competing in front of a passionate home crowd on his Davis Cup debut, the 18-year-old described the match as “the best four hours of my life”, but expressed mixed emotions after missing the opportunity to pull off the biggest upset of his young career. “I couldn’t be more devastated. I left it all out there on the court and at the moment I’m just feeling pretty bad, but overall I’m really proud of my effort,” said de Minaur.

Nick Kyrgios soon levelled proceedings in Queensland, with a solid 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Jan-Lennard Struff to end the day and take the tie into the doubles third rubber on Saturday at 1-1. Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt took time to praise Kyrgios after the match in what was a tough situation after losing the first match of the tie. “Everybody expects him to take care of these matches,” said Hewitt. “I’ve been in that position before and it’s not an easy thing to do. What he did today and how he served was fantastic.”

German captain Michael Kohlmann was complimentary of Australia’s opening day display before looking ahead to Saturday’s action. “I think we have to admit that Alex de Minaur played a great match, he’s a great kid, and I think he showed a lot of heart… and Nick (Kyrgios) today was serving too good,” assessed Kohlmann. “In the end, it’s one-all, it’s okay, we can live with that, and we are ready now for the doubles.”

SPAIN 1, GREAT BRITAIN 1
Venue: Club de Tenis Puente Romano, Marbella, ESP (clay – outdoor)

Spain looked set for a 2-0 lead over Great Britain in Marbella after winning the first rubber in straight sets and leading the second match by two-sets-to-love. But Cameron Norrie, competing in his first Davis Cup tie, in his first match on clay, came from two-sets-to-love down to stun Roberto Bautista Agut and end the first day at 1-1.

Five-time champion Spain, competing at home for the first time since 2013, started well to take a 1-0 advantage through Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The World No. 21 defeated Davis Cup debutant Liam Broady 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(6) in just over two and a half hours.

Ramos-Vinolas, competing in his first live rubber, was impressed by his No. 165 ranked opponent. “I think he played a great match,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “He was fighting all the match… all the sets were very close.”

ASB Classic champion Bautista Agut appeared to be on the verge of doubling his nation’s advantage, winning the first two sets for the loss of just seven games. But No. 114 Norrie stormed back, recording one of the upsets of the first day to beat Bautista Agut 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and take the tie into Saturday’s third rubber on level terms.

JAPAN 1, ITALY 1
Venue: Morioka Takaya Arena, Morioka, JPN (hard – indoor)

There were no easy wins in Morioka on Friday as Japan and Italy both won five-set rubbers to end the day at 1-1. Italy’s Fabio Fognini came from two-sets to one down, firing 56 winners, to overcome Taro Daniel 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after nearly four hours of play.

Japan’s Yuichi Sugita replied with a five-set win of his own in the second rubber of the tie, coming from a set down to edge Andreas Seppi for a final-set tie-break win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1) .

KAZAKHSTAN 2, SWITZERLAND 0
Venue: National Tennis Centre, Astana, KAZ (hard – indoor)

Kazakhstan moved to within one match win of a 10th win in 11 home ties since 2008 after victories for Dmitry Popko and Mikhail Kukushkin in Astana. Popko upset Henri Laaksonen in the opening rubber with clinical play, converting 71 per cent of his break-point opportunities (5/7), to triumph 6-2, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-5 in just over three hours.

Kukushkin doubled the home nation’s advantage with another four-set win at the National Tennis Centre to beat Adrian Bodmer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. The Kazakh No. 1 won 75 per cent of points behind his first serve to move Switzerland a loss away from a fourth consecutive opening-round defeat since winning the title in 2014.