Serbia, Argentina seal semis
Source: Agencies |
July 13, 2010, Tuesday
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ARGENTINA and Serbia wrapped up quarterfinal victories on the road in the Davis Cup on Sunday to join France and the Czech Republic in the tournament's last four.
David Nalbandian beat Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 in the deciding match in Moscow to clinch Argentina a 3-2 win over Russia, which lost at home for the first time since 1996.
In Split, the second-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in front of a fiery Croatian crowd to give Serbia an unassailable 3-1 lead over its neighbor. Janko Tipsarevic then beat Antonio Veic 6-2, 7-6 (5) to rubber-stamp victory and seal Serbia's progression into its first Davis Cup semifinal, where it will host the Czech Republic in September.
The other semifinal will see Argentina travel to France, which secured a 5-0 whitewash over defending champion Spain.
"This is probably the sweetest victory in my career because this is not just an individual win, but a victory for my country," Djokovic said.
Serbia had taken a 2-1 lead thanks to its doubles victory on Saturday and Djokovic had ethnic insults hurled at him in his match, which lasted 2 hours, 24 minutes before he finished Cilic off with a drop-shot winner.
"Serbia is writing history by reaching the semifinals," Djokovic said. "Beating Croatia in this kind of heated atmosphere is really something big."
Argentina's win ended Russia's 17-tie winning streak at home since losing to the United States in the 1995 final. Pete Sampras won all three of his matches on that occasion.
In the absence of the injured Juan Martin Del Potro, the US Open champion and the country's No. 1 player, Nalbandian was Argentina's inspiration.
Nalbandian missed much of last season because of injury and has been sidelined with a hamstring problem since April, forcing him to drop out of the top 100. But the 28-year-old righthander showed no signs of rustiness as he swept aside No. 6-ranked Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets in Friday's opening match and did the same to Youzhny two days later.
"I'm happy with my playing here but I'm not surprised at all, though I had no official match practice since April," Nalbandian said. "I know my level and I did my best to prepare for these matches."
Earlier, Davydenko had beaten Eduardo Schwank 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to keep Russia's hopes alive but the host, missing big-serving players Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov, came up short.
"Our roster is much shorter than Argentina's," said Shamil Tarpischev, who captained Russia in his 74th Davis Cup tie, equaling Australia captain Neale Fraser's record.
"I called up all our best players. I'm sure the other players could hardly have added strength to our performance this weekend."
Argentina has reached the final three times but is yet to win a title.
France held an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Spain coming into the reverse singles, and it clinched the clean sweep thanks to Gilles Simon's 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) victory over Nicolas Almagro and Julien Benneteau's 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat of Feliciano Lopez.
The French, who have won the Davis Cup nine times, dealt Spain its first 5-0 Davis Cup loss since 1957, when the team was thrashed by South Africa.
David Nalbandian beat Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 in the deciding match in Moscow to clinch Argentina a 3-2 win over Russia, which lost at home for the first time since 1996.
In Split, the second-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in front of a fiery Croatian crowd to give Serbia an unassailable 3-1 lead over its neighbor. Janko Tipsarevic then beat Antonio Veic 6-2, 7-6 (5) to rubber-stamp victory and seal Serbia's progression into its first Davis Cup semifinal, where it will host the Czech Republic in September.
The other semifinal will see Argentina travel to France, which secured a 5-0 whitewash over defending champion Spain.
"This is probably the sweetest victory in my career because this is not just an individual win, but a victory for my country," Djokovic said.
Serbia had taken a 2-1 lead thanks to its doubles victory on Saturday and Djokovic had ethnic insults hurled at him in his match, which lasted 2 hours, 24 minutes before he finished Cilic off with a drop-shot winner.
"Serbia is writing history by reaching the semifinals," Djokovic said. "Beating Croatia in this kind of heated atmosphere is really something big."
Argentina's win ended Russia's 17-tie winning streak at home since losing to the United States in the 1995 final. Pete Sampras won all three of his matches on that occasion.
In the absence of the injured Juan Martin Del Potro, the US Open champion and the country's No. 1 player, Nalbandian was Argentina's inspiration.
Nalbandian missed much of last season because of injury and has been sidelined with a hamstring problem since April, forcing him to drop out of the top 100. But the 28-year-old righthander showed no signs of rustiness as he swept aside No. 6-ranked Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets in Friday's opening match and did the same to Youzhny two days later.
"I'm happy with my playing here but I'm not surprised at all, though I had no official match practice since April," Nalbandian said. "I know my level and I did my best to prepare for these matches."
Earlier, Davydenko had beaten Eduardo Schwank 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to keep Russia's hopes alive but the host, missing big-serving players Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov, came up short.
"Our roster is much shorter than Argentina's," said Shamil Tarpischev, who captained Russia in his 74th Davis Cup tie, equaling Australia captain Neale Fraser's record.
"I called up all our best players. I'm sure the other players could hardly have added strength to our performance this weekend."
Argentina has reached the final three times but is yet to win a title.
France held an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Spain coming into the reverse singles, and it clinched the clean sweep thanks to Gilles Simon's 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) victory over Nicolas Almagro and Julien Benneteau's 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat of Feliciano Lopez.
The French, who have won the Davis Cup nine times, dealt Spain its first 5-0 Davis Cup loss since 1957, when the team was thrashed by South Africa.
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