Round-robin play ends for men, quads at 2024 BNP Paribas World Team Cup

Three days of round-robin play at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup are in the books, and action on Wednesday and Thursday closed the book on the group stage portion of the competition for both the U.S. men and quads. The U.S. men ended the group stage with a 2-1 record, placing them second in Group B, while the quad team went 1-2, placing third in their own Group B. 

After opening play on Tuesday with a 3-0 sweep of Morocco, the men were handed a 2-1 defeat against second-seeded Spain in their second match, but bounced back to defeat Germany by a 3-0 final on Thursday. 

A bright spot for the U.S. against Spain, though, was top-ranked man Casey Ratzlaff, who won an epic 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) second singles match against Martin de la Puente to send the tie to a deciding doubles. Ratzlaff, ranked No. 14, had lost 11 of his 12 previous meetings against world No. 4 de la Puente.

Meanwhile, the quad team leveled its record at 1-1 by defeating Great Britain on Wednesday after falling to host Turkey to start its week, but dropped a 2-1 decision to Australia in its final round-robin match. 

Hunter Groce, competing in his first World Team Cup in eight years, continued to perform well as the No. 2 player to No. 1 David Wagner, and recorded straight-sets singles wins over Gregory Slade and Finn Broadbent to end round-robin play a perfect 3-0 in singles. But after Wagner was beaten in his singles matches, both ties were eventually decided in doubles: Against the Brits, Groce and Wagner beat Slade and Andy Lapthorne, 6-1, 6-3, but were beaten by Aussies Broadbent and Heath Davidson by the same score.

Playing a round behind the pros, the juniors are off to a 2-0 start. Their opening round-robin tie against Great Britain came Wednesday, and was a rematch of last year's final won by the Brits, 2-0. But all four of the American players on this year's team chipped in for a 3-0 sweep in the rematch, which started emphatically thanks to a 6-0, 6-0 win for Colorado's Tomas Majetic against Oliver Cox.