Russia 3, Serbia 2
The story of this tie, of course, was Serbia being shorthanded in its upset bid of the powerful Russian squad. Instead of sending out Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic for the first day of singles, the team had to go with Viktor Troicki and doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic. Both players put forth admirable efforts, but ultimately Troicki fell to Nikolay Davydenko in five sets and Zimonjic lost to Mikhail Youzhny in four after stunning the Russian in the first set. Djokovic played through his sickness to team with Zimonjic for the doubles point, but he retired the next day against Davydenko while leading two sets to one, allowing Russia to clinch the tie. Djokovic has a history of questionable injuries and ailments, but it's hard to imagine him giving anything less than his absolute best when playing for his country, so he has to receive the benefit of the doubt. The bottom line is that it's just disappointing the Serbs could not contest this tie at full strength; otherwise it would have been a scintillating first-round pairing.
Czech Republic 3, Belgium 2
This
was nowhere near as close as the 3-2 score indicated. The tie was over after
the Czech’s epic doubles victory on Saturday. One day after sweeping their
singles matches in straight sets, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek teamed up to
defeat Kristof Vliegen and Olivier Rochus 6-4 in the fifth. With Berdych and
Stepanek on board, it’s no surprise the Czechs took care of business before
things ever got suspenseful.
Argentina 4, Great Britain 1
The story of this tie wasn’t so much about the winners as it was the losers. Andy Murray chose to skip the weekend’s festivities, instead opting to rest of for the ATP tournament in Marseille. That did not sit well with Murray’s brother, Jamie, who was part of the Great Britain squad. Without Andy in the mix, Great Britain’s hard fall at the hands of Argentina was not unexpected. Led by David Nalbandian, who secured points in both singles and doubles, the Argentines did not drop a single set in their three match wins over the first two days of play.Argentina 4, Great Britain 1
Sweden 3, Israel 2
This
first-round tie was the only one that came down to a decisive fifth rubber.
Veteran Jonas Bjorkman carried the weight of Sweden on his shoulders in the
final singles match, while the Israelis relied on Dudi Sela. After dropping the
first set in stunning 6-0 fashion, Bjorkman stormed back to thrill the hometown
crowd by winning the next three sets, including 7-6(6) in the fourth. Fellow
veteran Swede Thomas Johansson also played the role of hero, securing wins in
both of his singles matches, the second of which allowed Sweden to stay alive
in the tie and give Bjorkman a chance at heroics.
Germany 3, Korea 2
Although this tie was without much drama--as expected--it was not without a star performance. Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, who really made a name for himself last month at the Australian Open by defeating Andy Roddick in a five-set classic, contributed all thee points and dropped just one set in three matches in the process. Kohlschreiber defeated Jae-Sung An in the first singles match on Day 1, teamed with Philipp Petzschner to win an easy doubles rubber on Saturday, and then got past Hyung-Taik Lee in four sets in the first singles rubber on Sunday to clinch the tie. Korea, meanwhile, needs someone other than Lee in order to have a chance of making an impact at future Davis Cups.
Spain 5, Peru 0
This was not expected to be much of a contest and it never was. Not only did Spain win the first three matches all in straight sets, but it also took the two meaningless reverse singles matches in straight sets. The Spaniards did not send out their top arsenal, but Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo were more than enough on the first day of singles to dispatch Matias Silva and Ivan Miranda, respectively. Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco took care of Miranda and Luis Horna in doubles on Saturday. While this tie offered almost no difficulty, Spain will have to pick it up a notch against Germany in the quarterfinals.
France 5, Romania 0
With a lineup featuring Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard
Gasquet, and Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in doubles, the French were
highly-touted entering the 2008 Davis Cup. Nothing has changed after their
drubbing of Romania in the first round. Tsonga and Gasquet cruised in the
singles and Clement and Llodra won a grueling five-set doubles match on
Saturday over unheralded Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau. The prize for winning?
A trip to Winston Salem, North Carolina to play the defending champion United
States.
USA 4, Austria 1
Not only was this played on clay, but it was played on horribly-surfaced clay
that created all kinds of ridiculous bounces. Normally that would spell major
trouble for the United States, a country that historically stinks up the red
clay at Roland Garros, but the defending Davis Cup champions handled the
situation admirably last week in Austria. Andy Roddick got things started with
a huge five-set win over Jurgen Melzer and the USA never looked back. James
Blake rolled over Stefan Koubek and the Bryan Brothers were their usual
flawless selves in doubles to clinch the tie before the reverse singles matches
could even get started. Now the Americans bid to repeat really heats up as they
host the powerful French team in the quarterfinals.
-------------------------
Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra are extended to five sets by Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau, but the Australian Open runner-ups prevail to give France an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Romania in the first-round Davis Cup tie. The victory sets up a quarterfinal showdown with the defending champion United States.
The
experienced and well-respected doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael
Llodra came through in the clutch on Saturday and propelled France into the
quarterfinals of the 2008 Davis Cup, where it will take on the United States.
The Frenchmen defeated the Romanian duo of Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-3,
6-4, 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-2 in front of a boisterous pro-Romanian crowd. Mergea
and Tecau upset these same opponents in a first-round Davis Cup tie last year,
and after the Romanians stormed from two sets down to take sets three and four
on Saturday, it looked like another surprise was in the making. The Romanians,
however, saw their serves deteriorate in the fifth set in terms of both
percentage and effectiveness. Clement and Llodra broke Tecau at love in the
fourth game to take a 3-1 lead and they never looked back. The Frenchman struck
ten winners in the decisive frame of play as opposed to just four unforced
errors. Because
the doubles point gave France a 3-0 lead and clinched the opening-round tie,
the reverse singles on Sunday were rendered inconsequential. Had the singles
matches been important, Richard Gasquet was set to take on Andrei Pavel in the
first match and Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would have squared
off with Victor Hanescu in the decisive fifth rubber had it been tied 2-2. On
Friday, Gasquet got the tie started with a straight-set victory over Hanescu and
Tsonga overcame Pavel in four sets after dropping the opening frame. With the
Sunday singles having no impact on the overall outcome of the tie, France sent
out Llodra, who is a doubles specialist but won this ATP season’s first singles
event in Adelaide, to play Pavel. The Frenchman prevailed 7-6(5), 7-6(7). Clement
and Tecau played instead of Tsonga and Hanescu, respectively, in the final
singles rubber. France
will visit the United States during the second weekend of April for a
highly-anticipated quarterfinal tie. “Playing the United States is a
magnificent challenge,” said French captain Guy Forget. “On paper, they're
better than we are. They're the best team in the world with Andy Roddick, James
Blake and the Bryan brothers.”
Gasquet,
Tsonga Give France 2-0 Lead The
dynamic duo of Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave France a commanding
2-0 lead over the host Romanians after the first day of singles rubbers in the
opening round of the 2008 Davis Cup on Friday in Sibiu, Romania. France is now
just one point away from clinching the tie and a berth in the quarterfinals,
where it could potentially meet the defending champion United States, which
currently leads Austria 2-0. Gasquet,
No. 7 in the world, put France on the scoreboard with a 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-5 win
over 76th-ranked Victor Hanescu in the first singles rubber. Both
players came out firing and traded early breaks of serve in the first set. The
Frenchman, who ended up taking the set in a tiebreaker seven points to five,
blasted 24 winners in the first frame of player while Hanescu fired 20 winners
past his opponent. “The
first set was very important. It was really close, and had I lost it could have
been a different story” said Gasquet. “I don’t know if I played a good match or
not, and it doesn’t really matter. The most important was to win.” Gasquet
played good enough to win, but his level definitely dropped in the second and
third sets. He benefitted, however, from the fact that Hanescu’s form also
began to deteriorate. The Frenchman’s serve percentage plummeted after the
opening set, but Hanescu was unable to take advantage and Gasquet was not
broken a single time in the final two sets. One break in each of the last two
frames was enough for Gasquet to cruise to a straight-set victory in relatively
comfortable fashion. Not
surprisingly, Davis Cup rookie Jo-Wilfried started off his second singles
rubber against Andrei Pavel feeling the pressure. Neither player could break
serve in the first set and the veteran Romanian was much stronger in the
tiebreaker, taking it 7-2 to establish a 1-0 advantage. The Australian Open
runner-up, however, bounced back immediately to break Pavel in the opening game
of the second set. Tsonga never looked back. He took the next three sets all by
a 6-4 margin. Pavel never broke serve once throughout the entire match and
Tsonga did a great job of minimizing his unforced errors after the first set
despite maintaining an aggressive, winner-filled style of play. Tsonga
is scheduled to square off against Hanescu in a potentially pivotal fifth
rubber, while Gasquet and Pavel are paired up in Sunday’s first singles match.
All of that could change if France secures a third point on Saturday from its
formidable doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. The 2008
Australian Open runner-ups will go up against Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau.
Richard Gasquet gets things started off on the right foot for the
high-powered French team and Australian Open sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
finishes the job in the second singles rubber to give France a convincing 2-0
lead over Romania after the first day of Davis Cup action.
As always, two singles matches kick off the Davis Cup ties' first day
of action. That means for the Romania-France matchup, Friday will feature
Victor Hanescu and Andrei Pavel for the Romanians and Richard Gasquet and
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the French.
Although he's just 21 years old, Richard Gasquet is the veteran leader of France's two singles players and he will start
things off for his country on Friday afternoon in Sibia, Romania.
The No. 7 player in the world will be taking on Romania's highest-ranked player,
No. 76 Victor Hanescu.
Gasquet and Hanescu have squared off just once in their careers, and that came
in this exact same situation and on the same surface (hard courts) one year
ago. France and Romania also
drew each other in the first round of the 2007 Davis Cup, with the Frenchmen
holding home-court advantage. On the first day of singles matches Gasquet
defeated Hanescu 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is fresh off his remarkable run to the Australian Open
final. Will 34-year-old veteran Andrei Pavel be able to derail the young
up-and-comer and score a huge point for the Romanians? History cannot speak to
that answer, as Tsonga and Pavel have never played each other.
Current form, however, would suggest the Frenchman is the heavy favorite.
Tsonga posted some strong results at the end of 2007 and his performance in Australia has
him all the way up to No. 20 in the rankings and No. 2 in the 2008 ATP Race.
Pavel has lost in the first round of both tournaments he's entered this season
and he has not won an ATP level match since September
Look for both Frenchmen to pull through in four sets. The
6’6’’ Hanescu should be able to serve his way to one set against Gasquet, and
keep in mind what should be a boisterous home crowd will be advantageous to the
Romanians. Tsonga is a Davis Cup rookie and could be overwhelmed by the
atmosphere early in the match, but when he settles down he should be able to
roll over Pavel in the same way he rolled over his first six opponents in Australia.
First Round Davis Cup Preview: France vs. Romania
Just two weeks after his stunning run to the
Australian Open final, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is back in action as he hopes to
continue taking the tennis world by storm. This time, however, instead of
playing for himself, he'll be playing for his country. Led by Tsonga and
Richard Gasquet, the high-powered French squad takes on Romania this weekend in
a first-round Davis Cup tie.
France and Romania will square off in a first-round Davis Cup tie from Friday
through Sunday in Sibiu, Romania. The tie will take place indoors on hard
courts. As hosts, Romania did not and does not have any obvious surface choice
with which to exploit the favored Frenchmen, so the decision of hard courts does
not come as much of a surprise. Grass would have played into the hands of
big-serving Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and also Richard Gasquet, who upset Andy Roddick
at Wimbledon last year en route to a semifinal appearance at the All-England
Club. Clay is not ideal for any of the Romanians and Gasquet would be heavily
favored in both his singles matches on the red stuff.
The surface should be the least of Romania’s concerns this week. Instead, they
need to focus purely on the opponent, because France looks like on of the
strongest contenders to win the 2008 Davis Cup. Tsonga and Gasquet have both
been in extremely good form since the fall of 2007 and there’s no reason to
think that won’t continue.
Playing
singles for the Romanian team are veteran Andrei Pavel and journeyman Victor
Hanescu. At 34-years-old, Pavel is on the downside of his career and ranked
83rd in the world. The 6’6’’ Hanescu is 76th in the world and he
enjoyed some strong results in Challenger Series events in the second half of
the 2007 season. He lost in the first round of Adelaide earlier in 2008 to none
other than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Encouragingly, Hanescu extended Tsonga to 7-5 in
the third. Both of these Romanians are capable of pulling off an upset, but
pulling off the necessary two—or most likely three if they lose the doubles
point--wins in singles seems too difficult to ask of them.
Little-known Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau round out the Romanian squad and
could factor into the doubles equation on Saturday, although that remains to be
seen. Either way, the Romanians will be severely overmatched in doubles going
up against the French duo of Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro. Both Frenchman
boast a proud history in doubles and Clement recently made it all the way to
the Australian Open final with partner Michael Llodra. Assuming France takes
the doubles point without much trouble, Romania will have to win three of four
singles matches in order to take the tie.
That’s a daunting task against anyone. That’s a near-impossible task against Tsonga and Gasquet.