US beaten in Davis Cup finals as Tiafoe loses again. Titleholder Canada defeat Sweden

Frances Tiafoe was beaten for the second straight time in the Davis Cup Finals, with his latest defeat on Thursday coming after a code violation on match point for smashing his racket into the ground following a disagreement with the chair umpire.

Tiafoe’s 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2) loss to Tallon Griekspoor helped give the Netherlands a 2-1 victory over the United States in Group D in Split.

Tiafoe was upset because he wanted to replay a point following a challenge. He unsuccessfully argued with the umpire and the match referee, then returned to the court and smashed his racket four times, leading to his second code violation and the loss of a point. It resulted in the end of the match, as he was losing 6-2 in the tiebreaker.

“The end of the match is super unfortunate. A lot transpired there at the end with the call there at 5-2,” Tiafoe said. “Obviously I could have responded in a better way but emotions are flying, I’m competing for my country, I really want to win. Broke a racquet there and I forgot I had a code violation earlier in the match, match is over. I gave it my all. It’s been a tough stretch for me over here in Croatia.”

Botic Van de Zandschulp had beaten Tommy Paul 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the opening singles match. The U.S. later won the doubles with Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram defeating Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Tiafoe, who reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open earlier this month, had lost to Croatian Borna Gojo on Wednesday in a tie the Americans won 2-1. 

The Netherlands had opened with a win against Finland and now lead the group. Defending champion Canada earlier defeated Sweden 3-0 to take the lead in Group A.