Davis Cup Day 2 wrapup
For the first time in 27 years of Davis Cup World Group all teams are a chance to advance to the second round. Day two Davis Cup action was highlighted by two epic doubles matches involving Spain/Switzerland and France/Romania. Both matches were decided in the fifth set and lasted close to five hours.
My prediction for a surprise German victory remains on track. In Krefeld, Germany the home team took the advantage following a strong showing in the doubles. The Croation doubles pairing of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic were riding a six-match win streak in Davis Cup competition however this counted for nothing as the German pairing of Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann powered to a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5) victory. It may have been wiser for the Croatian captain to rest Ancic for what could be a deciding fifth rubber on Sunday. Waske and Kohlmann had the form on the board going into the match following their tournament win last week in Zagreb. In the reverse singles on Sunday Tommy Haas has a chance to wrapup the tie when he takes on Ljubicic. If Haas is not able to claim victory Benjamin Becker would have an excellent chance to win over a weakened Ancic who no doubt would be feeling tired following his illness earlier in the week.
Chile has fought its way back into the tie against Russia. Olympic Gold Medalists Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu defeated Igor Andreev and Marat Safin 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4. In what is the only tie that involves the same players in both doubles and singles ties Chile now are forced to win both singles matches on Sunday to keep theirimpressive ten rubber home winning streak alive. Gonzalez will be hoping for his Australian Open runner up form when he squares off against Safin. This tie can go either way and is one I am really excited to follow. Chile would be feeling some relief after the shock of seeing Gonzalez lose his first match on Friday.
France were probably expecting to wrap up their first round tie against Romania and with the experienced doubles pairing of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra who could disagree. The Romanian pairing of Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau had other ideas and in what turned out to be an epic doubles match the Romanian’s were surprise victors winning 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7(3), 11-9. The match kept fans on the edge of their seats four hours and 35 minutes and could have gone either way right up until the last game. In the reverse singles on Sunday Richard Gasquet will be looking to delight the home fans with a victory over Andrei Pavel. I am expecting a French win in this tie.
In another epic doubles match the Spanish team of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco claimed a thrilling five set match over the Swiss pairing of Yves Allegro and Marco Chudinelli. The final score was 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(2), 6-1, 12-10. The match lasted four hours and 47 minutes. At one stage the Swiss were just two points from victory and must be very dissappointed to let this match slip. Spain now holds the upper hand going into the reverse singles on Sunday. If Fernando Verdasco is not able to wrap things up in the first match David Ferrer will be favoured to claim the tie for Spain. It is a shame we could not see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play is this tie. It would have added so much to the occasion.
The USA maintained their position of favourites to win their tie against the Czech Republic following an easy straight sets win by the team of Bob and Mike Bryan against Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner. The final score was 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The Americans doubles pairing are ranked no. 3 in the world so it was no surprise seeing them win. Andy Roddick will be looking to claim victory for the US when he takes on Tomas Berdych. This will be no easy match for Roddick as Berdych showed he is in good form to defeat James Blake on day one. If the tie is alive going into the fifth rubber Blake will be keen to make up for his earlier loss and take the USA into the second round. The US should be able to take advantage of the fact that it has two shots at victory. When you look at the fact that they have two top ten players they really should be able to win.
Australia had a comfortable doubles win over the home team in Belgium to keep alive the tie. The new Davis Cup pairing of Lleyton Hewitt and Paul Hanley cruised to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory to set up a thrilling day 3. Hewitt will be looking to make up for his day 1 loss when he plays Olivier Rochus in the first of the reverse singles. I expect this tie to be decided in the fifth rubber in a match up between Chris Guccione and Kristof Vliegen. Guccione will be looking to repeat his 5th rubber win on clay against Switzerland in last years Davis Cup first round. Australia has the advantage of a fresh Guccione as he was not involved in the doubles match. He has lost his first match and then come back to win a deciding rubber just last year so I am looking for him to repeat this on Sunday.
Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer kept Austria’s chances alive by taking out the doubles match against their Agentinine opponents Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-1, 7-5. The Austrian’s played without their team captain Gibert Schaller who was restricted to bed by the team doctor. Based on day 1 form you would have to favour Argentina to take out this tie but you never know with Davis Cup action.
The final tie of the weekend saw the team of Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov defeat the Swedish doubles pair of Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman. The score was 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. This match had the top two doubles players in the world face off against each other. Mirnyi is no. 1 while Bjorkman is no. 2. Just recently they teamed up to make the Australian Open final. With the Belarussians having more to play for it appeared this way on court and in the end that was the key to the victory.
I am looking forward to day three action.
