Australia lead Belgium 2-1 in their Davis Cup playoff after Lleyton Hewitt and Paul Hanley won the doubles yesterday, leaving them just one win from promotion to the World Group.
Australia’s most successful Davis Cup player, Hewitt, teamed up with big-serving doubles specialist Hanley to trounce Olivier Rochus and Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
Australia, who have won the Davis Cup 28 times, are keen to win their way back into the elite grouping of 16 for the first time since they were dumped out by Belgium in 2007.
PHOTO: AFP
They now need Hewitt, ranked 36th, or rising star Carsten Ball to win a reverse singles match today to secure promotion.
“There’s two matches tomorrow [Sunday] and we have to win one of them — we look forward to the battle,” Hewitt said.
However, the Australians are expected to face strong opposition from Belgium, particularly from the country’s best player and world No. 79 Rochus, who was instrumental in Australia’s defeat three years ago.
PHOTO: AFP
“We knew coming here it would be tough ... but we are going to fight like crazy tomorrow,” Rochus said.
The win made Hewitt Australia’s most successful Davis Cup player, bringing to 44 his wins in either singles or doubles in the competition. On Friday, his 43rd victory put him on a par with former record holder Adrian Quist.
In Chennai, India, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi continued their winning run in Davis Cup doubles to secure India a point in their World Group playoff against Brazil.
The veteran duo demolished Bruno Soares and Marcelo Melo in straight sets to extend their unbeaten streak in the tournament to 24 matches, the most by any doubles team in the world.
Paes and Bhupathi won 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in 2 hours, 19 minutes in front of about 2,000 fans at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium.
Brazil lead the tie 2-1 after two hard-fought victories in Friday’s singles.
Brazil, who have lost four consecutive playoff ties since 2006, need a win in one of today’s two reverse singles to return to the World Group for the first time since 2003.
On Friday, France led Argentina 2-0, while the Czech Republic were tied 1-1 with Serbia after the singles in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
Michael Llodra put the French ahead against Argentina in Lyon with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Juan Monaco. There was more for the home fans to cheer in the second singles match when Gael Monfils followed up with 27 aces in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over David Nalbandian.
Another French victory in the doubles, when Llodra and veteran Arnaud Clement are likely to face Argentine pair Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos, would qualify the hosts for the Dec. 3 to Dec. 5 final with an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic was a late withdrawal from Serbia’s team for the first day’s play, saying he was still tired after his run to the US Open final, and his replacement Viktor Troicki lost the opener 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in Belgrade.
However, Janko Tipsarevic hauled Serbia back into contention by beating Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5).
Monfils, who is undefeated in the Davis Cup this year, won six consecutive games in the last set as he moved France closer to shot at a 10th Davis Cup title and their first since 2001.
“This is a fabulous experience,” Monfils said. “I started to play with the France team when I was a 12 or 13-year-old boy and I dreamed about the Davis Cup. Now, doing this in a semi-final ... today I played one of my best three matches this year.”
Friday’s results were a vindication for France captain Guy Forget, who snubbed former French No. 1 Richard Gasquet to give doubles specialist Llodra his chance.
Nalbandian struggled with Monfils’ attacking game and his team now has an uphill task.
“Gael served better than I did and it made the difference,” Nalbandian said. “I didn’t serve well. What disturbs me in his game is mainly his serve and he is also very sharp when he is attacking.”
Tipsarevic’s win over Berdych, on the Wimbledon runner-up’s 25th birthday, had the 15,000 spectators in the Belgrade Arena on their feet and preserved Serbia’s hopes of reaching their first Davis Cup final.
“We are still a very good team, even if Djokovic needs to take a day off,” Tipsarevic said after his victory. “We are one of the best teams in the world.”
Tipsarevic’s good returns took the edge from one of Berdych’s best weapons, his big serve.
The Serb had Berdych in trouble in many of the Czech’s service games and broke twice to go two sets up.
A net-cord ball gave world No. 7 Berdych a 3-1 lead in the third set. Tipsarevic fired the ball into the roof of the arena and never regained his rhythm, losing the set.
Another net-cord made it 3-1 for the Czech in the fourth set after Tipsarevic had saved two break-points, but this time Tipsarevic stayed focused and broke right back with a tremendous low forehand into the approaching Berdych and went to win the tiebreaker.
“I gave him a lot of easy points and a lot of opportunities on my serve,” Berdych said.
Djokovic, who watched the action from Serbia’s box, added that he might yet play in the doubles.
“I decided to keep my strength for the last two days,” Djokovic said. “If the result after the first day requires it, I might play the doubles on Saturday too, but I will surely be ready for Sunday.”
There was plenty of Davis Cup action too in the playoffs to stay in the World Group, with the US tied 1-1 with Colombia.
The US made a good start in Bogota, with Mardy Fish defeating Alejandro Falla 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
However, Santiago Giraldo defeated Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 to make it all-square after the first day.
Colombia are expected to field the doubles team of Robert Farah and Carlos Salamanca and the US have announced they will counter with Ryan Harrison and John Isner, although Fish said after his singles victory that he would be ready to step in.
The US have dropped out of the World Group only once since it began in 1981 and has won the Davis Cup 32 times, more than any other nation. Colombia are trying to reach the World Group for the first time.
Kazakhstan made the most of Roger Federer’s decision not to play by opening a 2-0 lead over Switzerland in Astana.
Andrey Golubev saw off Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, before Mikhail Kukushkin defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, a player he had lost to in the first round of the US Open just two weeks ago, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
In other playoffs, Germany were 2-0 up on South Africa, Italy and Sweden were 1-1, while Romania looked set for the World Group after opening a 2-0 lead against Ecuador.
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