Davis Cup Final 8: Czechia knocks out the United States, South Korea qualifies for the first time, and Germany draws Great Britain in Bologna

The field for the Davis Cup Final 8 is complete. Seven second-round ties were played from 18 to 20 September, and the winners join host Italy in Bologna from 24 to 29 November: Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Czechia and South Korea. The United States, the competition's most successful nation with 32 titles, is out for the second year running after losing 3-2 in Prague; France, Belgium, Croatia, Chile, Ecuador and India go back to the first round of the 2027 Qualifiers. Tuesday's draw in Bologna paired Italy with Korea, Czechia with Canada, Germany with Great Britain and Spain with Austria.

Prague: two reverse singles turn the tie

Czechia was 2-1 down on Saturday after Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek saved four match points to beat Adam Pavlásek and Patrik Rikl 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the doubles. Jakub Menšík then beat Ben Shelton, the US Open runner-up and the world No. 4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and Jiří Lehečka took the decider against Learner Tien 6-3, 7-5 on his fourth match point. Lehečka had also beaten Shelton 6-4, 6-4 on Friday, so Shelton lost both his singles within a week of the final in New York. He had withdrawn from the Laver Cup the day before the tie began, saying he needed time to rest after the US Open and the Davis Cup.

It is the second year in a row that Czechia has come from 2-1 down to eliminate the United States at this stage; in 2025 Menšík beat Frances Tiafoe in the decider in Delray Beach. The Americans have not won the Davis Cup since 2007; Czechia, champion in 2012 and 2013, lost its quarter-final in Bologna last year. More than 13,000 spectators attended each day at the O2 arena, and Lehečka said afterwards: "Without Jakub winning against Ben, I would not have the chance to play the final match."

Seoul: Korea is the first Asian nation in the Final 8

South Korea beat India 3-1 in Seoul and is the first Asian team to reach the knockout stage under the current format. Both Koreans came from a set down on Friday: Kwon Soon-woo beat Dhakshineswar Suresh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Chung Hyeon, who at the 2018 Australian Open became the first Korean to reach a Grand Slam semi-final and is now ranked 549th, beat Sumit Nagal 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. India took the doubles through Sriram Balaji and Suresh, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, before Kwon closed the tie against Nagal 6-1, 6-2.

The other five ties

Canada beat France 3-1 in Quebec City, its first tie there since 1974, and Félix Auger-Aliassime won both his singles. On Friday Liam Draxl, ranked outside the top 200, beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 7-5 in his first match against a top-50 opponent, and Auger-Aliassime beat Quentin Halys 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3. On Saturday Benjamin Bonzi and Pierre-Hugues Herbert kept France in the tie with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Auger-Aliassime and Duncan Chan, and in the next match Auger-Aliassime came from a set down to beat Rinderknech 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 with 17 aces. France, the 2017 champion, will not be in Bologna.

Austria beat Belgium 3-1 on clay in a temporary 4,000-seat stadium at the Wiener Athletiksport Club, and reaches the final stage for the second year in a row and the sixth time overall. Jurij Rodionov beat Gauthier Onclin on Friday, Lucas Miedler and debutant Neil Oberleitner beat Sander Gillé and Joran Vliegen 7-6 (5), 7-5, and Rodionov then beat Zizou Bergs, Belgium's No. 1, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Belgium had reached the semi-finals in 2025.

Spain, without Carlos Alcaraz, won 4-0 in Santiago with debutants in both singles: Daniel Mérida beat Alejandro Tabilo 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, Rafael Jódar, who turned 20 this month, beat Cristian Garín 6-0, 6-2, and Pedro Martínez and Jaume Munar clinched the tie in the doubles 6-0, 6-3. Martín Landaluce won the dead rubber.

Great Britain beat Ecuador 4-0 at the Copper Box Arena, London's first Davis Cup tie in a decade, without the injured Cameron Norrie: Toby Samuel and Arthur Fery won the Friday singles, and the doubles pair Henry Patten and Neal Skupski, the world No. 1 and No. 3 in doubles, clinched it 6-3, 6-4. Britain is in the Final 8 for the first time since 2023 and has won all eight rubbers it played this year.

Germany beat Croatia 3-1 in Hallede, where Alexander Zverev won both singles six days after his US Open title, and Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz won the doubles.

The draw: Italy and Korea open on 25 November

The draw was made on Tuesday at the Palazzo Pepoli in Bologna with Italy, Spain, Germany and Czechia as the four seeds. Italy, champion in each of the last three years and playing at home, opens against Korea on Wednesday 25 November; it has won all three previous meetings, the last one 4-0 in Cagliari in 2020. The other three quarter-finals are Czechia against Canada, the 2022 champion; Great Britain against Germany; and Spain, last year's runner-up, against Austria, which lost its 2025 quarter-final 0-2 to Italy. The winners of Germany's and Spain's ties meet in one semi-final, the winners of Italy's and Czechia's in the other. The organisers had not published the days of the remaining quarter-finals by Wednesday.

Germany and Great Britain have met eleven times, and Germany leads 6-5; the last meeting was the 2021 quarter-final, which Germany won 2-1. Germany has reached the semi-finals in each of the last two years. Zverev has not committed to playing in Bologna. After the win in Halle he said there were two months until Bologna and many tournaments before it, and he called the Final 8 format "absolute rubbish" (translated from German), saying he hoped the competition would return to home-and-away ties throughout. He plays the Laver Cup in London this weekend, which begins on Friday at The O2.

The format in Bologna

A qualifying tie is four singles and a doubles over two days, best of three sets, first to three wins. The Final 8 is played at the SuperTennis Arena in Bologna as straight knockout, and each tie there is shorter: two singles and a doubles in a single day, and two wins decide it. A fourth consecutive title would make Italy the first nation to win four in a row since the United States, from 1968 to 1972.