Men Tennis News Update – Davis Cup Saturday, February 2, 2013

Written by: Staff on 1st February 2013

Brisbane International tennis tournament

Men Tennis News Update - Davis Cup Saturday, February 2, 2013

epa03523682 Austria's Jurgen Melzer returns to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during their quarterfinals match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, 04 January 2012 EPA/DAN PELED AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Davis Cup

You’d think that, even in his current troubled state, Jurgen Melzer would dominate against the struggling players that made up Kazakhstan’s team. You’d think wrong. #211 Evgeny Korolev had very little trouble against Melzer, winning 7-6 6-3 6-2. And that meant that Austria was in a 2-0 hole, because Andrei Golubev, in the first match of the tie, had actually shown his full abilities, beating Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6 6-3 7-6.

Amir Weintraub seems to be on his way to becoming Israel’s top singles player. He at least made a match of it against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But he lost 6-3 6-3 4-6 7-5. Richard Gasquet then demolished Israel’s official #1 Dudi Sela 6-3 6-2 6-2. That looks pretty close to over.

The score says that Switzerland and the Czech Republic are tied. Scores can be deceiving. Stanislas Wawrinka opened the tie by beating Lukas Rosol 6-4 6-3 6-4. But Tomas Berdych leveled things by beating Henri Laaksonen 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-1. Closer than expected, but still, Rosol should beat Laaksonen in the reverse singles. The Czechs also have the edge in the doubles. And Berdych will be favored against Wawrinka. The Swiss probably need two medium-level surprises from Wawrinka to have any chance. Or put it this way: The Czechs still have lots of ways to win. The Swiss really have only one.

It took only one match for the Belgium vs. Serbia tie to look like it was over. Their best chance for a point came in the first match of the tie, David Goffin versus Viktor Troicki. Troicki, after all, has been struggling. But not struggling enough. Troicki came back from two sets and a break down to win 1-6 3-6 6-7 6-4 6-4. And then it was Novak Djokovic’s turn. 6-3 6-2 6-2 over Olivier Rochus, and Serbia is up 2-0.

The tie between Italy and Croatia pretty much followed the script — except for a lineup change for Italy. They had Paolo Lorenzi play the first singles match instead of Fabio Fognini. It didn’t help; he lost 6-1 6-7 4-6 6-3 6-2 to Croatia’s #1 Marin Cilicl — a tough result, given that he’s supposed to play doubles on Saturday. Which is likely to matter, since Andreas Seppi leveled the tie with a 6-2 6-7 6-4 6-4 win over Ivan Dodig.

This being tennis, health is always an issue. It certainly was for Germany. Philipp Kohlschreiber, the German #1, wasn’t able to finish against Carlos Berlocq, retiring while leading 5-4 in the fifth set. Juan Monaco then beat Florian Mayer 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-4. For a team that came in favored (at least in our heads), Germany really seems to be a mess right now.

Kohlschreiber said the injury was a hamstring pull. As of now, no one knows how bad it is, but he can’t use the leg at all. It sounds as if he’s through for the tie. Which means that Tobias Kamke will take his place in singles; we’d guess it will be Mayer in doubles with Christopher Kas.

Sam Querrey did his best to ensure that John Isner’s health wouldn’t really matter. He opened the tie against Brazil by thumping Thomaz Bellucci 6-3 6-4 6-4. Since the Americans seem almost sure to win the doubles, and Querrey almost sure to win his reverse singles against Thiago Alves, that came close to being decisive. But, of course, that assumes no other American injuries. Insurance never hurts. And Isner provided it, beating Alves 6-3 7-6 6-3. Odds are that he won’t have to test the knee again unless he wants to.

The good news for Canada is that Milos Raonic won. The bad news is, it was a lot harder than expected; he edged Albert Ramos 6-7 6-4 6-4 6-4. But that was a minor surprise compared to what came next. Frank Dancevic — who isn’t even the Canadian #2; he is #3 on the team behind Raonic and Vasek Pospisil — crushed Marcel Granollers, the top singles player on the attenuated Spanish team 6-1 6-2 6-2. And Granollers is supposed to play Saturday’s doubles with Marc Lopez. This sounds un-promising.

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: Andreas Haider-Maurer, Andrei Golubev, Davis Cup, Evgeny Korolev, Jurgen Melzer, mens tennis news, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News