1997 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I

Main article: 1997 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone

The Europe/Africa Zone was one of the three zones of the regional Davis Cup competition in 1997.

In the Europe/Africa Zone there were four 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 1998. ^[1]

Participating nations

•   Austria
•   Belgium
•   Croatia
•   Denmark
•   Great Britain
•   Hungary
•   Israel
•   Morocco
•   Slovakia
•   Ukraine
•   Zimbabwe

Draw

Second Round Play-offs

First Round Play-offs

First Round

Second Round

Belgium

Brussels, Belgium (clay)

bye

bye

Belgium

3

Aalborg, Denmark (indoor carpet)

Hungary

Denmark

2

Denmark

5

Budapest, Hungary (clay)

Hungary

0

Hungary

2

Ukraine

3

Great Britain

Kyiv, Ukraine (clay)

London, England (indoor carpet)

bye

Great Britain

3

Great Britain

1

Harare, Zimbabwe (indoor hard)

Ukraine

2

Zimbabwe

4

Ukraine

0

Zimbabwe

5

Israel

Bratislava, Slovakia (clay)

bye

Israel

Israel

1

bye

Slovakia

3

bye

Slovakia

Israel

w/o

Osijek, Croatia (indoor carpet)

Morocco

Morocco

1

Graz, Austria (indoor clay)

Croatia

4

Morocco

Croatia

2

bye

Austria

3

bye

Austria

•   Hungary and   Morocco relegated to Group II in 1998.
•   Belgium,   Zimbabwe,   Slovakia, and   Austria advance to World Group qualifying round.

First round

Denmark vs. Hungary

Denmark 5	Aalborg Stadium, Aalborg, Denmark [2] 7–9 February 1997 Carpet (indoors)		Hungary 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 Frederik Fetterlein József Krocskó 6 4 6 2 7 5       2 Kenneth Carlsen Attila Sávolt 6 4 6 4 77 63       3 Kenneth Carlsen  /  Frederik Fetterlein László Markovits  /  Attila Sávolt 77 64 77 62 6 4       4 Kenneth Carlsen József Krocskó 6 3 65 77 6 3       5 Frederik Fetterlein Attila Sávolt 5 7 6 3 6 4

Zimbabwe vs. Ukraine

Zimbabwe 5	City Sports Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe [3] 7–9 February 1997 Hard (indoors)		Ukraine 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 Wayne Black Andriy Medvedev 6 4 6 3 4 6 6 4     2 Byron Black Andrei Rybalko 5 7 6 2 77 62 6 3     3 Byron Black  /  Wayne Black Andriy Medvedev  /  Dimitri Poliakov 68 710 7 5 4 6 6 1 6 4   4 Byron Black Denis Yakimenko 6 4 6 4         5 Wayne Black Andrei Rybalko 77 63 6 3

Croatia vs. Morocco

Croatia 4	Zrinjevac Sport Hall, Osijek, Croatia [4] 7–9 February 1997 Carpet (indoors)		Morocco 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Saša Hiršzon Karim Alami 6 4 6 1 6 3       2 Goran Ivanišević Hicham Arazi 6 2 6 2 64 77 6 2     3 Saša Hiršzon  /  Goran Ivanišević Karim Alami  /  Hicham Arazi 6 2 6 3 6 3       4 Goran Ivanišević Karim Alami 6 2 7 5         5 Saša Hiršzon Hicham Arazi 1 6 4 6

Second round

Belgium vs. Denmark

Belgium 3	Royal Léopold Club, Brussels, Belgium [5] 4–6 April 1997 Clay		Denmark 2
1 2 3 4 5 1 Filip Dewulf Kenneth Carlsen 6 4 6 0 6 1       2 Johan Van Herck Frederik Fetterlein 65 77 6 2 2 6 1 6     3 Filip Dewulf  /  Libor Pimek Kenneth Carlsen  /  Frederik Fetterlein 3 6 5 7 6 1 4 6     4 Johan Van Herck Kenneth Carlsen 6 4 6 1 7 5       5 Filip Dewulf Frederik Fetterlein 6 0 6 4 3 6 2 6 6 1

Great Britain vs. Zimbabwe

Great Britain 1	Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, England [6] 4–6 April 1997 Carpet (indoors)		Zimbabwe 4
1 2 3 4 5 1 Jamie Delgado Wayne Black 6 2 3 6 1 6 3 6     2 Andrew Richardson Byron Black 3 6 6 4 1 6 6 4 6 4   3 Neil Broad  /  Mark Petchey Byron Black  /  Wayne Black 6 3 1 6 4 6 78 66 3 6   4 Jamie Delgado Byron Black 0 6 0 6 2 6       5 Andrew Richardson Wayne Black 3 6 77 65 62 77

Slovakia vs. Israel

Slovakia 3	Slovan Kerametal Tennis Club, Bratislava, Slovakia [7] 4–6 April 1997 Clay		Israel 1
1 2 3 4 5 1 Dominik Hrbatý Eyal Ran 6 3 4 6 6 3 6 4     2 Karol Kučera Noam Behr 6 1 6 3 6 0       3 Dominik Hrbatý  /  Karol Kučera Noam Behr  /  Eyal Erlich 4 6 6 3 3 6 64 77     4 Karol Kučera Eyal Ran 6 2 6 3 6 2       5 Dominik Hrbatý Noam Behr           not played

Austria vs. Croatia

Austria 3	Liebenauer Stadium, Graz, Austria [8] 4–6 April 1997 Clay (indoors)		Croatia 2
1 2 3 4 5 1 Gilbert Schaller Goran Ivanišević 6 3 6 4 63 77 2 6 3 1   retired 2 Thomas Muster Saša Hiršzon 6 0 6 4 3 6 6 1     3 Thomas Muster  /  Udo Plamberger Saša Hiršzon  /  Goran Ivanišević 5 7 2 6 2 6       4 Thomas Muster Goran Ivanišević 77 65 5 7 77 65 2 6 5 7   5 Gilbert Schaller Saša Hiršzon 6 3 6 3 7 5

First round relegation play-offs

Ukraine vs. Great Britain

Ukraine 2	Nauka Sports Club, Kyiv, Ukraine [9] 11–13 July 1997 Clay		Great Britain 3
1 2 3 4 5 1 Andrei Rybalko Tim Henman 6 3 4 6 3 6 6 4 4 6   2 Andriy Medvedev Greg Rusedski 6 1 6 1 2 6 6 2     3 Andriy Medvedev  /  Dimitri Poliakov Tim Henman  /  Greg Rusedski 1 6 4 6 65 77       4 Andriy Medvedev Tim Henman 65 77 6 3 6 4 6 4     5 Andrei Rybalko Greg Rusedski 5 7 3 6 3 6

Second round relegation play-offs

Hungary vs. Ukraine

Hungary 2	Római Tennis Academy, Budapest, Hungary [10] 19–21 September 1997 Clay		Ukraine 3
1 2 3 4 5 1 Kornél Bardóczky Andriy Medvedev 2 6 2 6 2 6       2 Attila Sávolt Andrei Rybalko 6 4 6 2 2 6 6 2     3 Gergely Kisgyörgy  /  Attila Sávolt Andriy Medvedev  /  Dimitri Poliakov 2 6 3 6 1 6       4 Attila Sávolt Andriy Medvedev 1 6 77 61 3 6 7 5 2 6   5 Kornél Bardóczky Andrei Rybalko 6 0 6 4

References

1. "1997 Europe/Africa Group I". DavisCup.com. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
2. "Denmark v Hungary". daviscup.com.
3. "Zimbabwe v Ukraine". daviscup.com.
4. "Croatia v Morocco". daviscup.com.
5. "Belgium v Denmark". daviscup.com.
6. "Great Britain v Zimbabwe". daviscup.com.
7. "Slovakia v Israel". daviscup.com.
8. "Austria v Croatia". daviscup.com.
9. "Ukraine v Great Britain". daviscup.com.
10. "Hungary v Ukraine". daviscup.com.

External links

• Davis Cup official website