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Davis Cup Quarterfinals, Zonal Wrap-Up
Posted on April 13, 2008
Russia d. Czech Republic 3-2
Marat Safin set the tone on Day 1, coming back from two sets down to defeat Tomas Berdych 6-4 in the fifth. Radek Stepanek evened it at one match all after a defeat of Igor Andreev, but the Russians again took the lead 2-1 after Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko came from a set down to top Stepanek and Pavel Vizner in the doubles. On Sunday Berdych was on the verge of taking it to a fifth and deciding match before turning his ankle in the fifth set against Davydenko, putting the Russians into the semifinals against Argentina.
Argentina d. Sweden 4-1
Argentina looked to manhandle Sweden on their home clay, but Sweden's Robin Soderling had other ideas, evening the tie at 1-1 on Day 1, blitzing Jose Acasuso 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 after David Nalbandian had put Argentina out front in the opener with a four-set win over Thomas Johansson. Argentina again took the lead after the Saturday doubles, where Guillermo Canas and Nalbandian had a surprisingly-easy straight-set win over doubles virtuoso Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt. Soderling attempted to play the hero role once again on Sunday in extending the tie to a fifth match, but Nalbandian subdued the en-fuego Swede 9-7 in the fifth set. The Argentines will host the Russians on clay in the semifinals.
Spain d. Germany 4-1
The slick indoor court in Germany didn't confront the Spaniards as Rafael Nadal (d. Nicolas Kiefer) and David Ferrer (d. Philipp Kohlschreiber) dropped only one set between them. In the doubles Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco won the battle of attrition 12-10 in the fifth set against Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner for the 3-0 sweep in regulation. Spain will next host a juicy home tie on the slowest red clay they can dig up for the semifinals against the U.S.
U.S. d. France 4-1
With Jo-Wilfried Tsonga injured in practice and Richard Gasquet injured in the head, France was nowhere near its best game as the U.S. raced out to a 2-0 lead on Friday, with Andy Roddick straight-setting Michael Llodra, and James Blake saving match points to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu in five sets. The stellar French doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Llodra handed the Bryan brothers a rare loss to extend the match to Sunday before Roddick improved his record to 10-0 in tie-closing situations with a straight-set win over the big-match challenged Mathieu.
ZONAL GROUP I TIES
Winners advanced to the September World Group Play-offs:
CROATIA d. ITALY 3-2
NETHERLANDS d. MACEDONIA, F.Y.R. 4-1
SWITZERLAND d. BELARUS 4-1
SLOVAK REPUBLIC d. GEORGIA 4-1
CHILE d. CANADA 3-2
BRAZIL d. COLOMBIA 4-1
AUSTRALIA d. THAILAND 5-0
INDIA d. JAPAN 3-2
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