World No. 1 Novak Djokovic steered Serbia to the brink of the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Friday, easing past Belgium’s Olivier Rochus on a makeshift court he described as the worst he has ever encountered.
Australian Open champion Djokovic needed just an hour and 39 minutes to beat 32-year-old Rochus 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to give Serbia a 2-0 lead in their World Group first round tie after Viktor Troicki took five sets to defeat David Goffin.
Twenty-four hours earlier, Djokovic had lambasted the clay court laid out over the parquet floor at the Spiroudome de Charleroi.
“It’s the worst court I have ever played on. It’s very, very dangerous,” the world’s top player said.
However, the International Tennis Federation said that the court was playable, insisting that they had laid 12 temporary clay courts on wood since 2009 without problems.
“It wasn’t easy playing on clay after a long time indoors and coming from Australia quite late,” Djokovic said.
“At the start I had trouble with movement and getting used to the conditions, but I managed to play my best tennis when I needed to,” he said.
Troicki battled back from two sets down against Goffin to win 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 as Serbia, the 2010 champions, eyed reaching the World Group quarter-finals for a fourth consecutive year.
Sam Querrey and John Isner powered 32-time champions the US to a 2-0 lead over Brazil in Jacksonville, Florida.
Querrey fired 15 aces to beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the opener.
Isner, who missed the Australian Open with a knee injury, then pounded 32 aces past Thiago Alves in a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory.
With their formidable doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan due up on yesterday the US looked to be in prime position to advance to face either Belgium or Serbia.
Spain, winners three times in the last five years, were on the ropes in Vancouver where Canada seized a 2-0 lead over the visitors, who were making do without Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro.
Milos Raonic got Canada off on the right foot with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Albert Ramos, and Canadian veteran Frank Dancevic needed just one hour and 48 minutes to beat Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
The winner of the tie will face either Italy or Croatia.
Marin Cilic gave Croatia a 1-0 lead in Turin with a 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Paolo Lorenzi, who had replaced flu-hit Fabio Fognini.
However, Andreas Seppi pulled Italy level with a 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4 win over Ivan Dodig.
France took a commanding 2-0 lead over Israel in Rouen, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world No. 8, beating Amir Weintraub 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, before world No. 10 Richard Gasquet breezed past Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Defending champions the Czech Republic finished the day in Geneva at 1-1 against Switzerland.
Stanislas Wawrinka, the Swiss team’s No. 1 in the absence of Roger Federer, saw off Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
World No. 6 Tomas Berdych then defeated Finland-born Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1.
The winners of the tie will meet either Kazakhstan or Austria in the last eight.
Kazakhstan lead 2-1 in Astana, having won both singles matches on Friday before the Austrians bounced back to take yesterday’s doubles.
In the singles Andrey Golubev beat Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and Evgeny Korolov saw off the experienced Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2.
Yesterday Austrian duo Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya beat Andrey Golubev and Yuri Schukin 7-6 (7/5) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3)
Argentina took a 2-0 lead over Germany in dramatic circumstances in Buenos Aires.
Carlos Berlocq claimed the first point when Philipp Kohlschreiber was forced to quit in the final set because of a thigh injury with the score standing at 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 4-5.
Argentina, playing without Juan Martin del Potro, took a firmer grip when Juan Monaco got past Florian Mayer 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set