Fist bumps replace handshakes, sweaty towels off limits in Davis Cup

Davis Cup qualifying started Friday under the shadow of the deadly coronavirus with fist bumps instead of handshakes, ball boys and girls keeping their distance from sweat-stained towels and two ties even played out in eerily-empty arenas.

With matches taking place from Australia to Japan to Europe and in South America and Hawaii, 12 teams are bidding to join defending champions Spain, 2019 runners-up Canada, semi-finalists Great Britain and Russia, as well as wildcards France and Serbia in the Madrid finals in November.

Two of Friday's encounters had to be staged behind closed doors with spectators banned in Miki, where Japan are hosting Ecuador, and in Cagliari as Italy faced South Korea.

"Conditions were strange," said Italian number one and world 11 Fabio Fognini after cruising past 251-ranked Lee Duck-hee 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour at the Circolo Tennis venue.

"It was not difficult to focus but it was a bit strange to play in front of 100 people. But safety first and then sport," Fognini told daviscup.com.

Italy has been the worst-hit European country with 197 deaths from the coronavirus.

As a result, all sporting events are being played behind closed doors for the next month.

On Friday, only teams, media and support staff were allowed into the arena where world number 79 Gianluca Mager then extended the Italian lead to 2-0 overnight after a 6-3, 7-5 debut win over Nam Ji-sung.

"There's too much silence for a Davis Cup crowd," said Italy skipper Corrado Barazzutti after a day in which players and backroom staff exchanged fist bumps rather than the traditional post-match handshake in an effort to reduce the risk of a virus spread.

In Miki, Japan, without their top two singles players Kei Nishikori -- who hasn't played Davis Cup since 2016 -- and Yoshihito Nishioka, slipped 2-0 down to Ecuador. Emilio Gomez defeated Go Soeda 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) while Roberto Quiroz shrugged off a gap of 186 places in the rankings to beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 7-6 (10/8).

- 'Do not touch' -
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Other ties were also locked at 1-1 -- Kazakhstan v Netherlands, Austria against