Out of the Frying Pan...

I'm not sure whose idea it was to put Davis Cup the week after Wimbledon - which is, effectively, the week after the most intense six week period of the year - but it seems to have worked out okay for them. The only person this intense scheduling seems to have really affected is Andy Roddick, who picked up a wee bit of an injury in the Wimbledon final (and who really deserves a rest anyway after that effort). So they got away with it, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was smart...

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The story so far of the tie has to be Israel. What do they think they're doing, taking a 2-0 lead over Russia? That was certainly not in the script. When your team consists of Harel Levy and Dudi Sela, you pretty much expect to get beaten in the first round... maybe you'll win a round courtesy of Dudi and the doubles dudes if you get a good draw, but a whole tie...? Never.

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And that's the way it looks like it's going. I mean, sure, Tarpischev definitely doesn't have the bestest Russian team ever out there, but Youzhny and Andreev, who played the singles matches yesterday, should be able to subordinate the Israelies any day of the week. Now a lot rests on the doubles, and the Israelis have a world-class doubles team in Erlich and Ram. So if Safin and Kunitsyn can't subdue them... we are heading for the biggest Davis Cup upset this year.

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Germany are holding their own against Spain, as well - Andreas Beck very nearly almost took out Nando Verdasco to make it 2-0, but Nando is an iron man in Davis Cup, as we all know. Still, this will be a very interesting tie to follow. There's only so much heroics one man can pull, and I get the feeling that Spain is relying very much on Verdasco right now...

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And over to Argentina and the Czechs... is something up with Radek Stepanek? Because dude, he should be playing singles. He's still listed as playing doubles... is he injured? Because I can't see any other reason the Czechs would have sent Ivo Minar out in singles. That is not very smart. Not that Stepanek would have stood a huge chance over del Potro either, but he would have had A chance. Minar had none.

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup

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Argentina 1, Czech Republic 1

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Tomas Berdych def. Juan Monaco, 6-4 2-6 2-6 6-3 6-2

Juan Martin del Potro def. Ivo Minar, 6-1 6-3 6-3

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Croatia 1, USA 0

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Ivo Karlovic def. James Blake, 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

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Israel 2, Russia 0

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Harel Levy def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2

Dudi Sela def. Mikhail Youzhny, 3-6 6-1 6-0 7-5

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Spain 1, Germany 1

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Fernando Verdasco def. Andreas Beck, 6-0 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-1

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-4 6-4

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Sam Querrey def. Kevin Kim, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Prakash Amritraj, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-2

Fabrice Santoro def. Taylor Dent, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Fabrice Santoro, 4-6 4-6

Jesse Levine def. Philipp Petzschner, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Rajeev Ram def. Jesse Levine, 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

Brendan Evans def. Robby Ginepri, 6-3 6-4

Olivier Rochus def. Brendan Evans, 6-4 6-4

Rajeev Ram def. Sam Groth, 6-4 6-2

Olivier Rochus def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Kevin Kim def. Daniel Brands, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Alex Bogomolov jr., 6-2 6-2

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Bastad Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-3 4-6 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Gisela Dulko, 7-5 6-4

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Agnes Szavay def. Timea Bacsinszky, 6-2 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Shahar Peer, 7-5 6-1

Edina Gallovits def. Petra Martic, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)