1996 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I

Main article: 1996 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone

The Europe/Africa Zone was one of the three zones of the regional Davis Cup competition in 1996.

In the Europe/Africa Zone there were three different tiers, called groups, in which teams competed against each other to advance to the upper tier. Winners in Group I advanced to the World Group qualifying round, along with losing teams from the World Group first round. Teams who lost in the first round competed in the relegation play-offs, with winning teams remaining in Group I, whereas teams who lost their play-offs were relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 1997. ^[1]

Participating nations

•   Croatia
•   Finland
•   Israel
•   Morocco
•   Norway
•   Romania
•   Spain
•   Ukraine
•   Zimbabwe

Draw

Second Round Play-offs

First Round Play-offs

First Round

Second Round

Morocco

Casablanca, Morocco (clay)

bye

bye

Morocco

4

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

1

bye

Harare, Zimbabwe (hard)

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

4

Finland

1

Romania

Helsinki, Finland (indoor carpet)

bye

bye

Romania

3

Finland

Finland

2

bye

Finland

Ukraine

Dubrovnik, Croatia (indoor carpet)

bye

Ukraine

Ukraine

0

bye

Croatia

5

bye

Kyiv, Ukraine (clay)

Croatia

Ukraine

4

Ramat HaSharon, Israel (hard)

Norway

1

Norway

2

Ramat HaSharon, Israel (hard)

Israel

3

Norway

Israel

1

bye

Spain

4

bye

Spain

•   Finland and   Norway relegated to Group II in 1997.
•   Morocco,   Romania,   Croatia, and   Spain advance to World Group qualifying round.

First round

Israel vs. Norway

Israel 3	Canada Centre, Ramat HaSharon, Israel [2] 9–12 February 1996 Hard		Norway 2
1 2 3 4 5 1 Noam Behr Christian Ruud 65 77 2 6 2 6       2 Eyal Ran Helge Koll-Frafjord 6 1 6 2 6 4       3 Eyal Erlich  /  Eyal Ran Helge Koll-Frafjord  /  Christian Ruud 3 6 65 77 7 5 6 3 6 4   4 Eyal Ran Christian Ruud 5 7 77 65 77 64 3 6 1 6   5 Eyal Erlich Helge Koll-Frafjord 6 4 1 6 6 4 77 64

Second round

Morocco vs. Zimbabwe

Morocco 4	Complexe Al Amal, Casablanca, Morocco [3] 5–7 April 1996 Clay		Zimbabwe 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Karim Alami Wayne Black 5 7 6 3 5 7 6 1 2 6   2 Hicham Arazi Byron Black 6 3 6 2 6 1       3 Karim Alami  /  Hicham Arazi Byron Black  /  Wayne Black 6 1 3 6 77 65 64 77 6 3   4 Karim Alami Malcolm Birch 6 3 6 0 6 1       5 Hicham Arazi Wayne Black 6 3 77 65

Finland vs. Romania

Finland 2	Talin Tenniskeskus, Helsinki, Finland [4] 5–7 April 1996 Carpet (indoors)		Romania 3
1 2 3 4 5 1 Tuomas Ketola Andrei Pavel 4 6 2 6 4 6       2 Kim Tiilikainen Adrian Voinea 1 6 2 6 4 6       3 Tuomas Ketola  /  Ville Liukko George Cosac  /  Dinu Pescariu 2 6 4 6 63 77       4 Tuomas Ketola George Cosac 6 3 77 61         5 Ville Liukko Andrei Pavel 6 3 6 3

Croatia vs. Ukraine

Croatia 5	Športska dvorana, Dubrovnik, Croatia [5] 5–7 April 1996 Carpet (indoors)		Ukraine 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 Goran Ivanišević Andrei Rybalko 6 0 77 65 64 77 6 3     2 Saša Hiršzon Dimitri Poliakov 6 2 6 0 6 3       3 Saša Hiršzon  /  Goran Ivanišević Dimitri Poliakov  /  Andrei Rybalko 77 62 6 3 6 2       4 Igor Šarić Victor Trotsko 6 3 6 4         5 Goran Orešić Sergei Yaroshenko 6 1 712 610

Israel vs. Spain

Israel 1	Canada Centre, Ramat HaSharon, Israel [6] 5–7 April 1996 Hard		Spain 4
1 2 3 4 5 1 Eyal Ran Carlos Costa 6 3 3 6 4 6 0 2   retired   2 Eyal Erlich Albert Costa 2 6 6 3 2 6 2 6     3 Noam Behr  /  Eyal Erlich Àlex Corretja  /  Emilio Sánchez 7 5 4 6 4 6 77 61 6 3   4 Noam Behr Albert Costa 4 6 4 6 2 6       5 Eyal Erlich Carlos Costa 61 77 1 6

Second round relegation play-offs

Zimbabwe vs. Finland

Zimbabwe 4	City Sports Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe [7] 20–22 September 1996 Hard		Finland 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Wayne Black Kim Tiilikainen 6 4 7 5 63 77 6 3     2 Byron Black Ville Liukko 6 3 6 3 6 4       3 Byron Black  /  Wayne Black Ville Liukko  /  Kim Tiilikainen 6 1 6 1 6 3       4 Byron Black Tapio Nurminen 67 79 6 4 6 3       5 Genius Chidzikwe Ville Liukko 1 6 61 77

Ukraine vs. Norway

Ukraine 4	Nauka Sports Club, Kyiv, Ukraine [8] 20–22 September 1996 Clay		Norway 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Andriy Medvedev Jan Frode Andersen 6 2 6 2 6 0       2 Andrei Rybalko Christian Ruud 79 67 6 4 6 4       3 Andriy Medvedev  /  Dimitri Poliakov Helge Koll-Frafjord  /  Christian Ruud 6 0 0 6 6 0 6 1     4 Andriy Medvedev Christian Ruud 6 2 6 1         5 Denis Yakimenko Jan Frode Andersen 62 77 4 6

References

1. "1996 Europe/Africa Group I". DavisCup.com. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
2. "Israel v Norway". daviscup.com.
3. "Morocco v Zimbabwe". daviscup.com.
4. "Finland v Romania". daviscup.com.
5. "Croatia v Ukraine". daviscup.com.
6. "Israel v Spain". daviscup.com.
7. "Zimbabwe v Finland". daviscup.com.
8. "Ukraine v Norway". daviscup.com.

External links

• Davis Cup official website