Austria v. Russia – Davis Cup World Group notes

Written by: Staff on 8th February 2012

Austria v. Russia - Davis Cup World Group notes |

AUSTRIA v RUSSIA – Wiener Neustadt, AUT – hard (indoors)

Head-to-head: Russia lead 2-0

The two teams haven’t met since 1984 when Russia was playing under the flag of the Soviet Union.

AUSTRIA v RUSSIA

16 Current DC Nations Ranking 8

Semifinals 1990 Best Result Champion 2002, 2006

1905 First Year Played 1962

78 Years Played (inc 2012) 48

16 Years in World Group (inc 2012) 25

143 Ties Played 123

67-76 Ties Win-Loss 80-43

0 Comebacks from 0-2 down 1

• AUSTRIA is bidding to reach the World Group quarterfinals for the first time since 1995. They have lost in the 1st round in each of their last 9 appearances in the World Group.

• Last year, Austria lost to France 3-2 in the first round. They defeated Belgium 4-1 in the World Group play-offs to maintain their place in the competition’s top tier.

• Austria’s best Davis Cup performance was in 1990, when they reached the semifinals. Horst Skoff led Michael Chang by two-sets-to-love in the final rubber before the American fought back to seal a 3-2 victory for USA in the semifinal.

• Austria will be at home to Kazakhstan or away to Spain if they advance to the quarterfinals.

• Austria is ranked No. 16 in the ITF Davis Cup Nations’ Rankings, but it is not the lowest ranked World Group nation. Japan are ranked one place lower than Austria.

• RUSSIA has contested the World Group every year since 1993.

• Last year, they fell in the first round (l. Sweden) for the first time since 2004. They kept their place in the World Group by defeating Brazil 3-2 in Kazan in the play-offs. Mikhail Youzhny overcame Thomaz Bellucci 26 63 57 64 1412 in 5 hours to win the 4th rubber.

• Russia won their 2nd Davis Cup title in 2006, defeating Argentina 3-2 in the final when Marat Safin won the deciding 5th rubber. They won their 1st title in 2002, when they defeated France 3-2 in the final after trailing 2-1 with Youzhny coming back from two sets down to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu in the deciding 5th rubber – the only time that a player has done so in a deciding rubber of a Davis Cup Final.

• If Russia advance to the quarterfinals, they will have a home tie against the winner of Spain v Kazakhstan.

• Russia is one of 5 nations to have held the No. 1 position in the ITF Davis Cup Nations’ Ranking since rankings began at the end of 2001 (alongside Australia, Croatia, France and Spain). Russia is currently ranked No. 8.