Day Two United States vs. Serbia Davis Cup by BNP Paribas

Written by: Staff on 6th April 2013

Day Two United States vs. Serbia Davis Cup by BNP Paribas

epa03398661 US brothers Bob (L) and Mike Bryan (R) return the ball during the Davis Cup match against Spanish Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in Gijon, Northern Spain, 15 September 2012. EPA/Alberto Morante |

In a Davis Cup doubles match defined by eye-opening numbers, Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac proved that Davis Cup play renders some numbers meaningless.

Zimonjic and Bozoljac outlasted the United States’ Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the world, 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 5-7, 4-6, 15-13, to give Serbia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup World Group Quarterfinal tie on an indoor hard court at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.

Bozoljac came into the match ranked No. 1150 in the world in doubles (career-high world doubles ranking: 122). He paired with world No. 22 Zimonjic, once the No. 1-ranked doubles player in the world, for the fifth time in Davis Cup – the first time since the 2012 World Group Quarterfinal last April – to serve 36 aces against the Bryans, who lost consecutive Davis Cup matches for the first time ever.

The match produced a number of superlatives (Complete history in attached document):

– The 15-13 fifth set is the longest fifth set in U.S. Davis Cup doubles history, and the second longest fifth set in the history of U.S. Davis Cup singles or doubles.

– The 4:23 match time is the second-longest – by one minute – U.S. Davis Cup doubles match since the institution of the tiebreak in 1989.

– The 76 games played in the match are the most games in a U.S. Davis Cup doubles rubber since the introduction of the tiebreak in 1989.

The Bryan brothers now have a 20-4 overall record when playing together in Davis Cup competition.

SERBIA LEADS THE UNITED STATES, 2-1

DAY/EVENT TIME EVENT DETAILS/PAIRING

Friday Singles A: Novak Djokovic (SRB) d. John Isner (USA), 76(5) 62 75

Singles B: Sam Querrey (USA) d. Viktor Troicki (SRB), 76(1) 36 46 61 64

Saturday Doubles: Ilija Bozoljac/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) d. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA)

76(5), 76(1), 57, 46, 15-13

Sunday, 11:30 a.m. Singles C: Sam Querrey (USA) vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Singles D: John Isner (USA) vs. Viktor Troicki (SRB)

** All times local.

DAY THREE PREVIEW NOTES

The quarterfinal concludes Sunday with “reverse singles” matches, starting with each country’s No. 1 player squaring off, followed by the No. 2 players in the fifth and final match. Should Serbia win the first singles rubber on Sunday in four or five sets, the fourth singles rubber will not be played unless both Captains agree to play it. If Serbia wins in three sets, the fourth singles rubber will be played best-of-three tiebreak sets. If the U.S. wins the third singles rubber, the fourth singles rubber will be played in the standard best-of-five sets format.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, will take on world No. 20 Sam Querrey, the top-ranked American. Querrey and Djokovic have played six times, with Djokovic holding a 5-1 advantage. Querrey and Djokovic have split their last two meetings, with Djokovic recording a two-set victory at Indian Wells last month and Querrey winning in three sets in Paris indoors last fall.

World No. 23 John Isner will then play Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, ranked No. 44 in the world, in the fifth and final match. Troicki holds a 3-1 edge against Isner in head-to-head competition. They, too, have split their most recent meetings, both in 2011, at Montreal, where Troicki prevailed in three sets, and at Washington, D.C., where Isner won in three.

Isner is 3-3 on the last day of a Davis Cup tie (1-3 in live matches). Querrey is 2-1 on the last day of a Davis Cup tie (1-0 in live matches). Querrey’s live-match win came in February in Jacksonville, Fla., when he clinched the United States’ 3-2 victory over Brazil in the World Group First Round with a four-set victory over Thiago Alves in a fifth and decisive rubber.

If Querrey wins on Sunday, that would produce the second consecutive tie in which the United States has played a fifth and decisive match, following Querrey’s victory over Alves in January. Before that, the last time the U.S. had played a fifth and decisive match was in the 2000 World Group quarterfinals, when Pete Sampras beat the Czech Republic’s Slava Dosedel in Los Angeles.

Topics: Andrey Golubev, Bob Bryan, Boise, Davis Cup, Ilija Bozoljac, Mike Bryan, Nenad Zimonjic, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, US tennis news, Yuriy Schukin

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dusanVemic says:

April 6, 2013 at 8:24 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Day Two United States vs. Serbia Davis Cup by BNP Paribas: http://t.co/nSRBarIXLp #tennis
DjokerSA says:

April 6, 2013 at 11:12 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Day Two United States vs. Serbia Davis Cup by BNP Paribas: http://t.co/nSRBarIXLp #tennis