Serbia out of Davis Cup after shock defeat to Slovakia

KRALJEVO - Serbia are out of the tennis Davis Cup after a shock 4-0 defeat to Slovakia in a qualifier for the competition's group stage, played in Kraljevo, central Serbia, at the weekend.

On Friday, Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic lost (7-6 (7-2) 6-2) to Lukas Klein and Dusan Lajovic was defeated 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 by Alex Molcan.

The outcome of the tie was decided by Saturday's first match, in which the Serbian double of Nikola Cacic and Miomir Kecmanovic lost 6-7 (4-7), 3-6 to Lukas Klein and Igor Zelenay and the rout was completed as Laslo Djere retreated from the singles match against Lukas Pokorny at 4-3 in the first set due to injury.

Slovakia have qualified for the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage.

Serbia will go to the play-offs in September to fight to stay in the Davis Cup World Group.

"This is a debacle. That is the only way to describe a 4-0 defeat to Slovakia at home, despite the series of problems we had with injuries and illnesses, as well as during the matches. The play-offs are ahead of us and we need to sit down and talk to see what will be going on until September. The national team has played well even without Novak (Djokovic) in some matches, but that was not the case now," Serbia head coach Viktor Troicki said after the tie.