US wins thrilling Davis Cup tie
The final scoreline may have read 4-1, but it was much closer than that. After Andy Roddick won the opening match against Michael Llodra in straight sets, things got very interesting for the defending champions.
James Blake took the court next against Paul-Henri Mathieu, and neither would be leaving the court for quite some time. Blake won the first set 7-6(5), lost the second 6-7(3), won the third 6-3, and lost the fourth 3-6. A fifth and deciding set was needed for this crucial match. It was Mathieu that made the big shots, as he went up 5-4 and was serving for the match at 40-15. It looked like the US was headed for a split of the first two matches. That was until Blake found his groove. The American saved two match points and went on to win the fifth set 7-5 (not that you could see it if you were watching live - thanks Versus!).
Much has been made over Blake’s five set record, but it seems as though that is all in the past. For him to come back and win a match like that is very impressive. He showed true guts, and that is just a testament to his competitive spirit.
So the American’s won the first two matches, and now the Bryan brothers just had to win the doubles to seal the deal. Much like Roger Federer, the Bryan brothers have become a victim of their own success. They had only lost once in Davis Cup play, and a win is just about expected from them every time they step on the court. It wasn’t to be though, as the French team of Llodra and Arnaud Clement (the same guys who beat the Bryan’s in the finals of last year’s Wimbledon) played an unbelievable match winning 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. I guess they are human after all.
Now, the American team turned back to its best player, Roddick, to get the deciding victory. The same can’t be said for the French team, which sent out Paul-Henri Mathieu (no slouch), instead of their best player, Richard Gasquet. The French #1 didn’t play in the first two matches because of blisters, and told coach Guy Forget he didn’t feel like he had a chance against Roddick because of the way the American was playing (he did however play against Blake in the meaningless final match). Roddick ended up winning the match 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and is now 10-0 in clinching situations for the American Davis Cup team.
Roddick wasn’t broken once in his two matches, as he continues his recent run of success. He is going to need that kind of play if the US is going to get back to the finals. Their semifinal match will be on the road at Spain, which of course is going to choose clay as their surface. If the Spanish team features their two best players, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, that is going to be an extremely tough match for the US to win.
Speaking of Spain, they joined the US, Argentina, and Russia in the semifinals. The Spanish team defeated Germany 4-1 on the heels of a great five set win for the doubles pairing or Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. Argentina went up 2-1 after the Saturday doubles match, and needed just one of the final two singles matches to go their way. They sent out David Nalbandian to take on Robin Soderling. Both players won their first matches, and you just had the feeling that this was going to be a tight match. Nalbandian was able to edge Soderling out 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 9-7! Finally, Russia will be back in the semis as they defeated the Czech Republic 3-2. The victory was sealed when Tomas Berdych rolled his ankle in the fifth set against Nikolay Davydenko and had to retire. Good break for the Russian team.
Both semifinal match-ups look very interesting on paper. We’ve got the US going to Spain and Russia traveling to Argentina. Many of the world’s top players could/should be in action for what promises to be another exciting Davis Cup weekend!
P.S. Did anybody see Andy Roddick’s new haircut? He was sporting a mohawk because of a bet he lost to his new fiance, Brooklyn Decker. If anybody has a picture of it, post a link! I couldn’t find one anywhere!
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