Davis Cup
It is now guaranteed that David Ferrer will have a better indoor record this year than Tomas Berdych. Now he just has to win Davis Cup.
Ferrer got off to an efficient start, putting Spain up 1-0 by beating Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 6-4. Ferrer said that it wasn’t as easy as it looked, but it raised his indoor record this year to 15-2.
It didn’t really help Spain much, though, because that made it Berdych’s turn. And Berdych got out his frustration against Nicolas Almagro. That means, for the moment, that Almagro stays stuck at #11; the only way he can rise to #10 is if he beats Radek Stepanek in a live match in the reverse singles.
On the other hand, the score of the Berdych/Almagro match was 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-7 6-3. So Almagro probably took something out of Berdych. And Berdych has to play doubles on Saturday. (No, the Czechs haven’t officially substituted yet. But they always do.) Ferrer and Almagro get Saturday off. So they’ll be rested for the reverse singles. And the Spanish are probably the favorites in the doubles anyway.