Sweden began their Davis Cup finals run with an unexpected win over Argentina courtesy of brothers Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer while the Netherlands, Canada and Australia also registered wins on day one.
The elder brother Elias Ymer started things off in Group A in Bologna with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) win over Sebastián Báez before Mikael Ymer comfortably beat No. 17 Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-2 to finish off the tie in their favour.
Argentina did manage to get on the board with Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos defeating Andre Goransson and Elias Ymer 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles.
The Ymer brothers have a history of rising to the occasion in the Davis Cup for Sweden, having led their side to a quarterfinals appearance last year despite being one of the lower-ranked teams in the competition.
Croatia and Italy constitute the rest of Group A.
Meanwhile, Australia kicked off Group C with a win over Belgium in Germany. Jason Kubler got them going with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 triumph over Zizou Bergs on his debut before Alex de Minaur rolled past David Goffin 6-2, 6-2.
Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell then defeated Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-1, 6-3 in doubles to complete the 3-0 sweep.
Germany and France are the other teams in Group C.
Canada are also off the mark in Group B in Valencia with a win over newcomers South Korea. Vasek Pospisil overcame Hong Seong-Chan 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the first tire before Soonwoo Kwon evened things with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
However, Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil defeated Song Min-Kyu and Jisung Nam 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in the deciding doubles to secure a point for Canada.
Spain and Serbia are the other two teams in their group which will play each other today.
Spain will be represented by the newly minted World no.1 Carlos Alcaraz while Novak Djokovic is absent for the Serbians.
The Netherlands defeated Kazakhstan 2-1 to register their first win of Group D with Tallon Griekspoor beating Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and Botic van de Zandschulp besting Alexander Bublik 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals with a new champion a guarantee after Russia’s disqualification from this year’s competition.
