France, Switzerland and Britain enjoyed perfect starts to their Davis Cup World Group first-round ties on Friday as the Czech Republic made a stuttering start to their three-peat bid.
Roger Federer and newly crowned Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka put Switzerland 2-0 up in Serbia to leave last year’s beaten finalists on the brink of an early elimination.
Australia, too, were heading for the Davis Cup exit after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet were on target for France.
Photo: AFP
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and James Ward won their opening singles matches in San Diego as Britain pushed the US to the brink on the opening day.
In Ostrava, the Czech Republic were left facing an uphill battle when the Netherlands’ Robin Haase saw off Radek Stepanek 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-1.
However, Tomas Berdych cruised past Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 to draw the 2012 and reigning champions back level ahead of today’s doubles.
“I didn’t know much about him... I tried to attack him a lot,” said Berdych, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open, where he lost to eventual champion Wawrinka.
Elsewhere five-time winners Spain, missing Rafael Nadal, were up against it trailing 2-0 to Germany in Frankfurt, Argentina were level 1-1 with Italy in Mar del Plata, Kazakhstan led Belgium 2-0 in Astana, while Japan and Canada were all square in Tokyo.
In San Diego, world No. 6 Murray set the tone for Britain with a dominant 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Donald Young.
Sam Querrey seemed poised to get the hosts back on terms, before Ward — down two sets and trailing 2-4 in the fourth set — roared back to win 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Ward won 10 of the last 11 games, belting seven aces and 53 winners in the 3 hour, 11 minute match on a clay court at Petco Park, home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres.
“I started reading him a little bit better,” Ward said. “He was going to my backhand a lot on the first serve, so I started to stand back a little bit further to give myself more time.”
On the clay in Mouilleron-le-Captif, France were sitting pretty after Gasquet beat Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-2, before Tsonga ousted Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).
World No. 10 Tsonga had defeated Hewitt, ranked 41, in all their three previous ties and won through in 1 hour, 51 minutes to give Arnaud Clement’s men the chance to finish off the tie in the doubles today.
“It was the perfect match. I was walking on water for two sets,” Tsonga said.
Federer, a last-minute addition to the Switzerland team, won through 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 against world No. 268 Ilija Bozoljac on the hard court in Novi Sad.
The Swiss, bouyed with two Grand Slam winners in their ranks, are favorites with Serbia weakened by the absence of star turns Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic.
Tired from his exploits in the heat of Melbourne, Wawrinka nevertheless stepped up to battle past world No. 102 Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (9/7).
“It was a tough match and it wasn’t easy for me to come here after the last few weeks,” Wawrinka said. “I didn’t really have enough time to get ready as I was exhausted both mentally and physically, but I was determined to fight and win the match.”
In Frankfurt, Philipp Kohlschreiber gave Germany a winning start over Spain with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory in less than two hours against Roberto Bautista Agut.
Spain’s world No. 26 Feliciano Lopez then fell 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 5-7, 6-3 to Florian Mayer, ranked 29, in the second rubber.
Spain were playing without their stars — world No. 1 Nadal and fifth-ranked David Ferrer.
In Mar del Plata, Carlos Berlocq put hosts Argentina ahead by beating Italy’s Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, 6-1, but Italy drew level when Fabio Fognini defeated Juan Monaco 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
In Tokyo, Japanese No. 1 Kei Nishikori beat Canada’s Peter Polansky 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, before Frank Dancevic leveled with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 win over Go Soeda.
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