Davis Cup

USA and CZE tied at Davis Cup in Delray Beach

Sep 13, 2025

Taylor Fritz scored a decisive victory in the evening’s second rubber as the U.S. and Czechia concluded the first day of action at the Davis Cup Second Round Qualifying tie knotted at 1-1.

Fritz, the world No. 5, knocked off Czechia’s Jakub Mensik, 6-4, 6-3, to put the U.S. team on the board. Earlier in the night, world No. 16 Jiri Lehecka defeated Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 6-2, to earn the first point of the tie for Czechia.

After the matches finished, Captain Bob Bryan praised Fritz’s incredible effort in spite of battling an illness. “Really impressed with how Taylor fought today. He's been a little under the weather, as you guys can see. You know, he was laser-focused, and his game really was there tonight for us.”

Photo credit: Mauricio Paz.

Fritz discussed what his recovery would look like heading into his match tomorrow with Jiri Lehecka. “Just kind of do what I have been doing the last three or four days. A lot of fluids, a lot of Vitamin C, trying to sleep as much as possible. It's tough. I haven’t really, like, left my bed much the last two days... [but] today is a little better.” said Fritz.

He added, “That's normally how it goes when I do get sick. I hit that one day where it's the worst, and then every day after that I just get a little bit better.”

Action begins Saturday with the all-important doubles rubber, as former world No. 1s Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram are scheduled to take the court for the Americans against the Czech team of Adam Pavlasek and Tomas Machac. Captains may make substitutions to Saturday’s lineups up to one hour prior to match time for the doubles and up to 15 minutes after the previous match for the singles.

Play begins at 2 p.m. E.T. on Saturday with the reverse singles matches scheduled to follow doubles, if necessary. The first team to win three matches will advance to the eight-nation Davis Cup Final 8 that will crown this year’s Davis Cup champion in November in Bologna, Italy.