IMAGES from football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Jannik Sinner spearheaded Italy's charge towards a second successive Davis Cup title with a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final at the southern Spanish city of Malaga on Sunday.
Defending champions Italy moved into the Davis Cup final after a 2-0 win over Australia on Saturday as Jannik Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets to follow up Matteo Berrettini's victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Singles wins for Botic Van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor sparked a party amongst an army of orange-clad Dutch fans inside the Jose Maria Martin Carpena arena.
Australia now have the opportunity to avenge last year's final defeat by Italy after world number one Jannik Sinner inspired the holders to a 2-1 victory over Argentina.
Australia booked their place in the Davis Cup semi-finals as doubles pair Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson clinched the deciding rubber against the United States on Thursday.
Jasmine Paolini put on a tennis masterclass to steer Italy to a fifth Billie Jean King Cup title as she beat Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 6-1 in the second singles rubber to wrap up a 2-0 win over Slovakia in the final on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal said farewell to tennis and his fans saluted their retiring hero in a bittersweet and emotional ceremony at a sold-out Malaga arena
Australian tennis great Rod Laver said that watching Nadal compete had been a privilege.
'In some ways it is good, maybe, if that was my last match because I lost my first match in the Davis Cup and I lost my last one. We close the circle'
Outsiders Slovakia reached the Billie Jean King Cup final as doubles pairing Tereza Mihalikova and Viktoria Hruncakova completed a comeback victory in Malaga on Tuesday.
Roger Federer paid tribute to his retiring rival Rafael Nadal on Tuesday, telling the Spaniard he challenged him like no other player.
'My big farewell would be a joy of winning with everyone'
Poland will face Italy in their first ever Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals after beating the Czech Republic 2-1 in a hard-fought tie that ended in the early hours of Sunday.
Poland's Iga Swiatek will play in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga in November, where they face hosts Spain in the opening match, the world number two said on Tuesday
'Thank you Novak for everything for all the moments we shared on court during our careers.'
The tennis legends are set to meet at the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Saudi Arabia.
A true legend of the game who paved the way and taught so many of us how to be as a player and as a person.
Nadal was much more than a claycourt bully, though. He spent more than 900 successive weeks from 2005 in the ATP's top 10, 209 of them at number one and at the age of 24 became the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam.
Dubbed the 'King of Clay' for his jaw-dropping 112-4 win-loss record at the Paris major, Rafael Nadal's last Roland Garros triumph came in 2022.
Here is a quick glance of all the highs and lows from Nadal's stupendous career:
Canada powered into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup for the third straight year with a victory over Britain on Sunday.
A summary of Friday's action in the Davis Cup group stage matches.
Canada are close to securing a place in the Davis Cup final Eight after a commanding 3-0 victory over Finland while Australia cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic
Italy's Matteo Berrettini beat Brazil's Joao Fonseca to give his side a flying start and Matteo Arnaldi then outlasted Thiago Monteiro to put the hosts into a 2-0 lead.
Canada began their Davis Cup Finals campaign in confident fashion as wins for Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime assured them of victory
Italy returned to the Davis Cup final after a gap of 25 years as Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic in both singles and doubles to secure a 2-1 victory over Serbia on Saturday that earned the 1976 champions a title clash with Australia.
Australia reached a second successive Davis Cup final when Alex de Minaur overpowered Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4 6-3 after Alexei Popyrin beat Otto Virtanen 7-6(5) 6-2 to earn the 28-time champions a 2-0 win over Finland on Friday.
Britain who topped Group B in the Davis Cup after their win over France on Sunday now face Serbia, as the draw for the Final 8 Knockout stage was announced on Tuesday. Serbia finished second behind Czech Republic, but clinched their place in the Final 8 with a win over Spain.
Nagal's court coverage and solid defence in long drawn points was the highlight of his win.
A round-up of Friday's action in the Davis Cup.
Britain battled to victory over last year's Davis Cup runners-up Australia in their Finals group stage opener on Wednesday, while Spain and Italy both suffered chastening defeats at home in the premier men's team competition.
A round-up of Sunday's matches in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and Serie A
Scotland's Scott McTominay grabbed another brace of goals as they stunned a much-changed Spain side to earn a deserved 2-0 victory in their Euro 2024 qualifier.
Canada defeated Australia 2-0 to win its first Davis Cup title on Sunday
Canada booked a showdown with Australia in the Davis Cup final after Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil edged out Italians Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini 7-6(2), 7-5 in a tightly fought decisive doubles affair on Saturday.
Australia beat Croatia 2-1 on Friday in Malaga, Spain, to reach the Davis Cup final for the first time in 19 years and will next face either Canada or Italy.
Vasek Pospisil and Denis Shapovalov clinched the winning point for Canada with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the decisive doubles match.
Marin Cilic can now secure Croatia's place in Friday's semi-final against Australia with a victory over Pablo Carreno Busta in the day's second singles match.
Thompson, ranked 84, was more aggressive in a tighter second set and went 6-5 up with a service hold before breaking a tiring Griekspoor in the next game to drag himself into the contest.
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