Action during the tie between Qatar and Portugal.
Doha, Qatar: Defending champions Argentina began their campaign at the FIP World Cup in Doha with a convincing 3-0 victory over Australia in their Group A men’s opening tie at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday.
Argentina dominated all three matches, with Franco Stupaczuk and Federico Chingotto leading the way with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dominic Bechard and Andrea Melisi.
Leandro Augsburger and Martin Di Nenno then defeated Marious Zelba and Emeric Navarro 6-0, 6-0 before Gonzalo Alfonso and Maximiliano Arce Simo completed the clean sweep with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Timothu Brown and Vuk Velickovic.
The result gave Argentina an ideal start to their title defence as they chase their third consecutive men’s world title after triumphing in 2022 and 2024.
The group also features France and the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, hosts Qatar suffered a difficult start to their World Cup campaign, losing to Portugal 0-3 in their opening Group C men’s tie.
Portugal took the lead after Pedro Araujo and Pedro Graca defeated Mohammed Saadon Al-Kuwari and Hassan Adel Waly 6-2, 6-2 in the opening match.
Diego Jesus and Pedro Perry extended Portugal’s advantage with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Rashed Nawaf and Mashari Nawaf in the second match.
Miguel Deus and Nuno Deus then completed the clean sweep, overcoming Rayan Abdulla Al-Jufairi and Essa Shannan Al Harrasi.
Today, Qatar take on Chile, while Argentina take on the Netherlands.
Four-time champions Spain also made a winning start with a 3-0 victory over Sweden in Group B. A. Coello and F. Navarro opened with a 6-3, 6-2 win over S. Vasquez and D. Windahl, before M. Yanguas and A. Goñi Lacabe secured the tie with a 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 victory over W. Släryd and A. Axelsson. J. Lebron and J. Sanz completed the clean sweep with a 6-0, 6-2 win over A. Olsson and L. Frost.
In the other Group B clash, Paraguay beat UAE 3-0.
Earlier, on the women’s draw, defending champions Spain made a strong start to their title bid, sweeping Germany 3-0 in Group A, while Brazil also defeated Great Britain to secure their opening tie.
In Group B, runners-up Argentina recorded a 3-0 victory over Chile, while France edged Belgium after winning the deciding third match. Italy also completed a clean sweep against Egypt in Group C, with Sweden needing just two matches to overcome Indonesia.
In Group D, Portugal secured a 2-0 lead over the United States before losing the third match, while the Netherlands cruised to a 3-0 victory over Paraguay.
