Rafael Nadal didn’t do much to back up his complaints about the busy tennis calendar when he dropped only four games on Friday to help get Spain off to a 2-0 start against France in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
Nadal was back on court four days after losing a grueling US Open final to Novak Djokovic. He routed Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 on his favorite clay-court surface and Spain ended the day leading 2-0 in the best-of-five series.
Djokovic was a late withdrawal from the opening day’s singles in Serbia’s semi-final against Argentina with a back problem. His replacement, Viktor Troicki, lost to David Nalbandian 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Photo: Reuters
Juan Martin del Potro defeated Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to put Argentina 2-0 ahead.
After beating Gasquet in a little over two hours, Nadal hit out at the tennis schedule and did not rule out strike action if there wasn’t an immediate fix.
“We don’t want to get there. We want to play,” Nadal said. “But if it’s a fight about something that we think is fair, something would have to happen.”
Nadal broke seven times in a dominant performance as he took his Davis Cup singles record on clay to 13-0.
“I’m close to the end of my energy,” Nadal said. “I’m not in perfect condition physically, I know that. If the match stays longer it [would] be very difficult for me.”
David Ferrer was almost as impressive as teammate Nadal in beating Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 to put Spain in a commanding position at Cordoba’s bullring.
Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco can clinch victory by beating Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in yesterday’ doubles.
Should Spain wrap up the win, Nadal conceded he would prefer to face Argentina in the final, as that would be played in Spain and he would avoid another meeting with Djokovic, who has won all six of their matches this year, all in finals.
Serbia managed to get through its semi-final against the Czech Republic last year when Djokovic withdrew from the opening day’s singles in similar circumstances — although on that occasion he had just lost the US Open final to Nadal.
The defending champions face an uphill struggle this time around after falling 2-0 down on the first day.
The top-ranked Djokovic only arrived in Belgrade on Thursday and blamed a back injury — for which he had treatment during the US Open final — for his withdrawal.
“Djokovic’s absence helped us for sure,” Nalbandian said. “I found out some 25-30 minutes before the match that he will not play, but I was prepared to play either him or Troicki, it did not matter.”
Troicki made 58 unforced errors against Nalbandian, who took his Davis Cup singles record to 22-5.
Del Potro won a battle of long rallies against US Open quarter-finalist Tipsarevic, finishing off the 2-hour, 31-minute match with an ace.
Milos Raonic’s return from a two-month layoff with a hip injury ended in a surprise 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 loss to the No. 182-ranked Amir Weintraub, leaving Canada and Israel tied at 1-1 in Ramat Hasharon, Israel.
Raonic’s Canadian teammate Vasek Pospisil had earlier beaten the higher-ranked Dudi Sela 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3.
In Lapu-Lapu, Philippines, Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang and Yi Chu-huan needed five sets yesterday to defeat the Philippines’ duo of Ruben Gonzales and Jeson Patrombon 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6.
Taiwan now lead their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I relegation playoff 2-1.
Today’s matches will determine who is relegated to Group II, with Taiwan’s Chen Ti taking on the Philippines’ Treat Huey in the first singles match, followed by Wang facing off against Cecil Mamiit.
BELL CHALLENGE
AFP, QUEBEC CITY, CANADA
Top seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia was sent crashing out of the WTA Bell Challenge tournament, in Quebec City, Canada, on Friday, losing 6-4, 6-4 to unseeded Kiwi Marina Erakovic.
The 23-year-old Erakovic, of Auckland, is ranked 85th in the world and is gunning for her first WTA Tour title.
The evening match featured an all-Czech contest, as sixth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova defeated compatriot Andrea Hlavackova 6-3, 7-5.
In other matches, Michaella Krajicek of Netherlands beat crowd favorite No. 4 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada 6-1, 6-3 and third-seeded Tamira Paszek of Austria downed Britain’s Heather Watson 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
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