Davis Cup 2012 – Updates and Some Quick Comments

Written by: Staff on 12th February 2012

Qatar ExxonMobil ATP Open Tennis tournament 2012

Davis Cup 2012 - Updates and Some Quick Comments

Viktor Troicki of Serbia in action against Gael Monfils of France during their quarter final match of the Qatar ExxonMobil ATP Open Tennis tournament at Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, 05 January 2012. Monfils won 6-2 and 6-3. EPA/STRINGER |

The great question in Davis Cup, for most countries, is player management. Few teams are so balanced as to have two top singles players and two strong doubles players. They have to decide whether to risk wearing out their singles players in doubles. There is, of course, no universal formula for figuring out what to do; the best strategy depends on many factors.

Croatia decided to go for the doubles point. They had their two top singles players, Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Dodig, play the doubles. Japan decided the other way; they played Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita, leaving Kei Nishikori to rest.

So far, it’s looking good for Croatia. Dodig and Karlovic won — although it took them four sets, 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3. That leaves them one point away — and, while Dodig faces Nishikori next, Karlovic will then get his shot at Go Soeda. So it looks like the Croats are in the driver’s seat.

The Americans made an interesting change in their lineup on Saturday, probably because they were up 2-0. Their initial plan was to play Ryan Harrison alongside Mike Bryan in the doubles. But they were surely not expecting to have a 2-0 lead at this stage! With the chance to clinch the tie right now, Jim Courier decided to team Mardy Fish with Bryan against the Swiss team of Federer/Wawrinka. It proved a smart move. The Swiss rout continued; Fish and Bryan won 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3, giving the Americans a 3-0 decisive lead.

The Spanish clinched not long after, though that was obviously far less of a surprise. Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez supplied the coup de grace by beating Evgeny Korolev and Yuri Schukin 6-2 6-3 6-1.

Potito Starace, who had been sick and unable to play singles for Italy, did finally make an appearance in the doubles — but it wasn’t any help. He and Danielle Bracciali fell 6-3 6-4 6-2 to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, giving the Czechs a 3-0 win.

Argentina, like the Americans, pulled a last-minute switch. As with the Americans, it worked — by the skin of their teeth. David Nalbandian took the place of Juan Ignacio Chela, and he and Eduardo Schwank beat Germany’s Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4. Argentina became the fourth team to reach the quarterfinal.

The absence of Novak Djokovic may actually have cost Serbia, a little, because it meant that either Viktor Troicki or Janko Tipsarevic would have to play both singles and doubles. They chose Tipsarevic to team with Nenad Zimonjic. And the tiredness he may have felt proved costly, because the Serbs lost 3-6 6-3 7-7 6-7 10-8 to Sweden’s Brunstrom/Lindstedt. And, after five sets of that, Tipsarevic has to play the first match on Sunday. It might help Sweden a little. Hard to believe they have any real hope, though.

On the other hand, the Russians may have given themselves a genuine hope. Austria has a strong doubles team in Peya/Marach, but Russian backups Davydenko/Youzhny beat them 7-6 6-7 7-5 3-6 6-4 to make the score 2-1 for Austria. What gets interesting is the question of who plays the reverse singles for Russia. The Austrians have little choice but to stick with Jurgen Melzer and Andreas Haider-Maurer. The Russians will presumably keep Alex Bogomolov Jr. for the first match, against Melzer. If Bogomolov can win that, though, the Russians could substitute either Youzhny or Davydenko for Igor Kunitsyn in the match against Haider-Maurer. The question is, how much did that doubles match take out of the two Russians?

Friday’s second singles between Canada and France, which we were unable to cover yesterday, went as expected: Canada’s Milos Raonic leveled the tie by beating Julien Benneteau 6-2 6-4 7-5.

In situations like that, the doubles obviously looms large. And it was an interesting matchup: Daniel Nestor, the best player in the tie, was teamed with Raonic (substituting for Vasek Pospisil). The French have two pretty good players in Benneteau and Michael Llodra, and the Frenchmen had plenty of experience together. It showed. The French won 7-6 7-6 6-3. Technically, the tie isn’t over, but that means that, even if Raonic can beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Pospisil then has to beat Benneteau (or maybe Gael Monfils) for Canada to advance. It may not be over, but it may not take much longer….