Davis Cup qualifiers

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 36

Davis Cup qualifiers

NZPA London France, Italy, Chile and Australia have joined the United States, Sweden. Czechoslovakia and New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup championship section. France provided yesterday’s upset by eliminating last year’s beaten finalist Argentina, in Buenos Aires when Yannick Noah defeated Ricardo Cano 8-6, 6-1, 8-6, in the deciding match. Earlier Guillermo Vilas had drawn his country level at 2-2 by crushing Thierry Tulasne 6-1. 6-0, 6-1, but Argentina paid for the loss of its top player, Jose Luis Clerc. who is resting.

The Italians clinched their tie in the final match against Britain, in Rome, when Adriano Panatta, the mainstay of their team for the last decade, beat an injured Richard Lewis 8-6, 6-4, 6-2.

That gave the Italians a 32 victory and avenged an upset loss to Britain a year ago in Brighton, England. Italy meets New Zealand in the next round. Buster Mottram had evened the score with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Corrado Barazzutti in the first reverse singles. Chile’s Pedro Rebolledo

put his country through to meet Australia when he beat the Rumanian veteran. Hie Nastase. 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, for an unbeatable 3-1 lead. In Stockholm, Sweden, which had clinched its triumph over the Soviet Union on the second day of its tie, finished off a 4-1 victory, Konstantin Pugaev snared the only Soviet win by beating Joakim Nystrom 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Sweden next meets the United States, and already there is speculation about a match between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. Australia qualified for its place in the quarter-finals when ■ Mark Edmondson swept aside Mexico’s Paul Ramirez 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, in the last match of their tie. The victory, giving Australia a 3-2 win. disappointed the patriotic Mexican crowd which had earlier seen Peter McNamara, of Australia, level the score at two matches each by defeating Francisco Macial 6-3, 6-3, 6-0. But the crowd’s cheers were unable to rally Ramirez, who looked tired and tense. He lost the first set having barely touched the ball and never managed to cope with Edmondson’s powerful service.