Fritz and Tiafoe Kick Off Singles Play Against Czech Republic in Rare Home Davis Cup Tie; Five Americans, Four Current Collegians Reach Winston-Salem Challenger Quarterfinals

The United States Davis Cup team, which recently lost Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul to injury, takes on a strong Czech team in Delray Beach Florida Friday night and Saturday, with Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe tapped for singles play tomorrow against Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik, respectively. This is the first time the USA team has hosted a Davis Cup home tie in nearly four years.

Benjamin Kittay(UNC, Michigan) and Ethan Quinn(Georgia) have been serving as practice partners this week, although Quinn is now on his way to tournaments in Asia.

The complete release from the USTA is below:

Davis Cup Second Round Qualifying Lineups and Schedule   USA vs. Czechia Outdoor Hard Court; Delray Beach Tennis Center; Delray Beach, Fla. September 12-13, 2025 | TV: Tennis Channel   Draw Ceremony/Team Press Conferences (Video; Transcripts: USA / CZE)   DELRAY BEACH, Fla., September 11, 2025 – Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe will lead the U.S. Davis Cup team against Czechia on Friday, kicking off the United States’ quest to reach the Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna, Italy, this November. The U.S. is hosting the blockbuster matchup featuring five ATP Top 30 players at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Delray Beach, Fla.   The USA-Czechia tie is one of seven home-and-away ties being played around the world this weekend as part of the second round of Qualifying with the victorious nations advancing to the Davis Cup Final 8. The U.S. defeated Chinese Taipei in its first round Qualifying tie earlier this year, while Czechia advanced past South Korea.   Play begins Friday night at 6 p.m. E.T. with the first two singles matches and concludes with a doubles match and two reverse singles on Saturday. The first nation to win three matches wins the tie and advances. The matches will be televised on Tennis Channel.   This is the seventh all-time meeting between the U.S. and Czechia in Davis Cup competition, with the U.S. leading the all-time series 5-1. The last meeting came in 2007 for a first round tie held in Ostrava, which saw the U.S. prevail, 4-1.   Delray Beach has historically provided a veritable home-court advantage for the USA in international team tennis competition. The U.S. Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams are 5-0 all-time when competing at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. The U.S. Davis Cup Team last played in Delray in 2004 and defeated Sweden with Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, and Bob and Mike Bryan.   The full initial matchups and schedule are below. Saturday’s schedule could be amended if either team clinches victory in the third our fourth match, and 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.     Friday, September 12 (6 p.m. ET) Frances Tiafoe (USA) v. Jiri Lehecka (CZE) Taylor Fritz (USA) v. Jakub Mensik (CZE)   Saturday, September 13 (2 p.m. ET) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) v. Adam Pavlasek/Tomas Machac (CZE) Fritz (USA) v. Lehecka (CZE) Tiafoe (USA) v. Mensik (CZE)     # # #

In an odd schedule for an ATP Challenger, there was no singles play today at the 75 in Winston-Salem, with all the second round matches, usually split over two days, played on Wednesday. All four quarterfinals are Friday, featuring five Americans and four enrolled collegians. Trevor Svajda and Aidan Kim are two of the Americans, both of whom are beginning their junior years, Svajda at SMU and Kim at Ohio State. Svajda defeated No. 7 seed Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-3, 6-3 to reach his fourth Challenger quarterfinal this year. He will attempt to make his first career Challenger semifinal when he takes on Murphy Cassone(Arizona State), who beat Philip Sekulic of Australia 6-1, 6-4 yesterday.

Kim, who defeated Blaise Bicknell(Florida, Tennessee) of Jamaica, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round, will play No. 4 seed Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) of Great Britain after Pinnington Jones defeated qualifier Quinn Vandecasteele 6-3, 6-3.

The other two active collegians are Kentucky sophomore Antoine Ghibaudo of France and Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain. Ghibaudo defeated Martin Damm 7-6(5), 6-3 and Jodar advanced when wild card Luca Pow(Wake Forest) retired trailing 6-3, 1-0. Ghibaudo will face Christian Langmo(Miami), who beat Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Jodar plays No. 3 seed Mitchell Krueger, who defeated Alfredo Perez(Florida) 6-4, 7-6(5).

Free live streaming is available on Challenger TV.