MANCHESTER, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Britain battled to victory over last year's Davis Cup runners-up Australia in their Finals group stage opener on Wednesday, while Spain and Italy both suffered chastening defeats at home in the premier men's team competition. "It's amazing to play my first Davis Cup tie in the UK in this sort of arena. In Valencia, the Czech Republic took an unassailable 2-0 lead over hosts Spain, who were missing Carlos Alcaraz after the world number two decided to pull out of the squad to recover following his U.S. Open semi-final defeat. Italy also endured a disappointing day in front of home fans in Bologna, as defending champions Canada secured a comfortable Group A victory in a re-match of last year's semi-final. Italy are without Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini this week but still have three top-50 singles players in the squad.

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Persons: year's, chastening, Jack Draper, Leon Smith's, Thanasi, Draper, Leon, Dan Evans, Alex de Minaur, Carlos Alcaraz, Tomas Machac, Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Jiri Lehecka, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alexis Galarneau, Lorenzo Sonego, Gabriel Diallo, Lorenzo Musetti, Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger, Milos Raonic, Matteo Berrettini, Mackenzie McDonald, Dino Prizmic, Gojo, Frances Tiafoe, Austin Krajicek, Rajeev Ram, Ivan Dodig, Pavic, Shrivathsa Sridhar, Toby Davis Organizations: MANCHESTER, Britain, Manchester, Davis, U.S, Serbia, Canada, Croatia, Thomson Locations: Australia, Spain, Italy, Britain, Valencia, Czech Republic, Malaga, Bologna, Canada, United States, U.S, Bengaluru