Third Day Blues

Roger Federer is pretty much the man, and he totally deserves his time off. That's all I have to say about that.

He revealed in his post-match press conference that he's suffering from fatigue-related injuries in his arm and leg and he 'needs to do some baby-sitting' so he's sitting out until at least October 5 - though truth be told, I'd be very surprised indeed if he showed up in Tokyo. You've just got to applaud the fact that he took to the court in this rubber against Italy when you have to think that if he didn't, Switzerland would face relegation - Wawrinka probably would have scored another rubber, but I don't know where the magical #3 would have come from. You da man, Roger. That's all I've got to say.

Both Israel and Croatia managed to score a consolation rubber, with Harel Levy scoring a win over Feliciano Lopez (a very decent win in and of itself) and Lovro Zovko managed to save some Croat pride by beating Lukas Dlouhy. I expected this whitewashing from Israel - Spain is swimming in excellent players, even with Nadal and Verdasco sidelined - but I really thought the Croats were going to, if not pull this out, make a better showing than this. They won the Davis Cup a few years' back basically on the back on Ivan Ljubicic, with Mario Ancic singing back-up. I thought the Cilic/Karlovic dynamic was even stronger, but apparently not. Not that this tie wasn't full of drama, especially in that first day, but it felt a little anti-climactic in the end.

All credit to the Czechs, though, who seriously stepped it up.

Other winners include Sweden, Serbia, Belgium (who knew they had blokes who played ball?), France and India. Other heroes include Robin Soderling, Steve Darcis, Somdev Devvarman and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. I always get into Davis Cup whenever it comes around, but it is so terribly shafted. I wish it was better organised. I wish it was better publicised. I wish... I wish...

Oh well. Pout.


Today's Results

Davis Cup (semi finals)

Czech Republic 4, Croatia 1

Jan Hajek def. Roko Karanusic, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4
Lovro Zovko def. Lukas Dlouhy, 6-3 6-4


Spain 4, Israel 1

David Ferrer def. Andy Ram, 6-3 6-1
Harel Levy def. Feliciano Lopez, 7-5 6-2


China GDD Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

Shahar Peer def. Alberta Brianti, 6-3 6-4


Bell Challenge (Quebec City)

Melinda Czink def. Lucie Safarova, 4-6 6-3 7-5

Stepping Up Everest

Well, I have completely underestimated the Czech Republic. There you go.

I gave Stepanek a good chance against Karlovic, but that somehow pales beside what actually happened. Five epic sets. A world-breaking 78 aces from Karlovic - which, to the best of my knowledge, breaks the previous record by about 20. And Stepanek still won.

Wow.

I'm not a Stepanek fan really, mostly on the grounds that I find him totally creepy. But you cannot deny that the man can play ball. To withstand that kind of intense pressure and come out on top - particularly when you're facing someone who is pretty much unbreakable in a to-the-death five set... that is some serious grit. And guile. And some other stuff starting with g. You've got to applaud the man's mental toughness - facing Karlovic in that kind of fifth set is kind of like a tennis Everest. You can't count on a breaker to get you through. So kudos to you, Radek Stepanek.

And then the other match went five sets as well, though it didn't have anything like the same level of drama. Berdych triumphed over Cilic, which I personally found very surprising. Berdych has been pretty much a non-entity this year, whereas Cilic has been very much an entity. Hell, he made the quarters of the US Open, like, two seconds ago. Where has Berdych been? But Berdych is terribly talented and sometimes that will out. Still, I'm not counting Croatia out of this tie yet. We've got a lot of tennis left yet.

In the other semi, Goliath is currently whaling on David, with Ferrer and Ferrero scoring easy victories over Sela and Levy. I'd look for an inspired Israeli performance in the fourth rubber if they win the doubles... but I still don't really rate them a chance of winning a singles match. At this point, I don't know how high I rate their chances of winning a set.

And just a quick throw to the playoffs - Federer and Wawrinka are a totally mad team. They both demolished their respective Italians. And it's not something you hear often, but when Federer plays on clay, he looks just gorgeous. The way he was sliding into those shots... it was positively balletic. He played a great match and the US Open is clearly behind him. Watch out, indoor season!


Today's Results

Davis Cup (semi finals)

Czech Republic 2, Croatia 0

Tomas Berdych def. Marin Cilic, 6-3 6-3 3-6 4-6 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (2-7) 16-14


Spain 2, Israel 0

David Ferrer def. Harel Levy, 6-1 6-4 6-3
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 6-2 6-0


Bell Challenge (Quebec City)

Melinda Czink def. Nadia Petrova, 7-6 (7-4) retired
Aleksandra Wozniak def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-1
Lucie Safarova def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3 6-4
Julia Goerges def. Lilia Osterloh, 6-2 6-4


China GDD Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

Peng Shuai def. Alexandra Panova, 6-2 6-3
Shahar Peer def. Chang Yung-Jan, 6-3 6-1
Ayumi Morita def. Olga Savchuk, 6-3 604
Alberta Brianti def. Anastasija Sevastova, 6-4 6-2

Davis Cup Daze

So, in the complete absence of anything better to talk about today, due to us beign in that lull period after a Slam before tennis gets interesting again, I thought I might do a bit of a Davis Cup preview. That should keep me out of trouble/off the streets, etc etc.

So, semi final #1 - Croatia vs. Czech Republic. This is a team basically consisting of Cilic and Karlovic against Berdych and Stepanek.

This is an interesting matchup. I'm leaning towards the Czechs in the doubles, purely because they have Lukas Dlouhy, but doubles is not my area of expertise so I'm just going to talk about the singles. There are some very interesting match ups, because all four of these players are capable of beating just about anyone if they run hot.

Cilic is the most recent to demonstrate this, beating Andy Murray in straight sets at the US Open and then getting off to a flier against eventual champ JMDP before crumbling in a heap. If he can, you know, not crumble, I think he'll win both his singles matches. I think Stepanek will give him more trouble than Berdych, because Berdych has done pretty much fat nothing this year, whereas Stepanek has done some, like, good stuff and whatnot, but I think Cilic is the most talented of the four players out there and, meltdown aside, I think he'll bring home the bacon for Croatia.

I'm unsure whether Karlovic will be a great second banana or whether he'll be a liability. He's a strange way, Dr Ivo - that huge serve can beat just about anyone, but if they find a way around that, he's pretty much screwed. I can see Stepanek figuring him out pretty early on... Berdych maybe not so much. He might do the figuring, but I can't see him delivering.

So in summation, I think Croatia will come away 3-1 in the singles, their one loss being Karlovic to Stepanek. This will put them back in the final, where they will face...

...the winner of semi final #2, Spain vs Israel. And look, I know Israel are the underdogs and people like supporting the underdogs, but if Spain lose this tie, I will eat my sofa. They are missing their best Davis Cup dudes, Nadal and Verdasco, but the depth that Spain presents is so ridiculous I can't see them losing. Then again, I didn't see Russia losing to Israel either, but I doubt the Spaniards will be quite as fragile.

I give Israel a very decent shot in the doubles. Erlich and Ram are a first rate team. But I really can't see either Dudi Sela or Harel Levy coming through the Mosquito, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has been playing pretty damn good of late. The other singles player, David Ferrer, has occasionally proved to be a bit shaky, but I'd be a bit surprised if he took any major losses here. And even if he did, Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo are both excellent players - actually, I wouldn't be surprised to see Robredo playing singles at all. Spain have options. I don't think Israel really have that luxury.

I think Spain's going to go 4-0 on singles here, whoever plays. Israel might win the doubles, but if Spain lose this tie, I will be very surprised.

So let the games begin. And let me be proven wrong.

Oh, and hopp Suisse!


Today's Results

Bell Challenge (Quebec City)

Lilia Osterloh def. Amra Sadikovic, 6-3 2-6 6-2
Bethanie Mattek-Sands def. Vania King, 6-3 6-3


China GDD Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

Anastasija Sevastova def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 3-6 6-3 6-1
Peng Shuai def. Chanelle Scheepers, 6-3 6-2
Chang Yung-Jan def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-2)
Olga Savchuk def. Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-4 6-4

Underrated

What an interesting collection of countries we have in the Davis Cup semi finals - really quite an eclectic group. Israel was the biggest surprise, as we discussed yesterday, but Croatia? And the Czech Republic? Not to mention the upset that Germany nearly pulled? Quite remarkable.

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Let's start with Israel again. Russia managed to get one point on the board in this tie, but it was only because Dudi Sela retired in his match against Andreev, so I don't think poor Igor gets to save any face there. Dudi's retirement also puts the mantle of tie hero quite firmly on the shoulders of Harel Levy - what a weekend for him! First he beats Andreev to make it 2-0, and then he has an absolutely cracking win over Kunitsyn in the dead rubber. I think it would be underestimating things to say he's found his mojo...

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Hero for Croatia probably goes to Marin Cilic, who won both his singles rubbers against the USA, beating Fish and Blake. Fish, I thought, played well, but it looks like James Blake's tenure as president of the Club of Lost Souls is going to continue a little longer. He choked right at the end of his match with Karlovic, and I was really hoping (for his sake) he could do a little more against Cilic. But it was not to be. Oddity of this tie? Bob Bryan winning a singles rubber. Don't see that very often!

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Then we go to the Czech Republic and Argentina, and like I said... I told them it would be smart to play Stepanek in the singles. I understand he has a knee injury but he managed to play through it fine in Wimbledon in his match against David Ferrer and so it was today. And it was a deciding rubber, as well - Juan Martin del Potro tried valiantly to keep Argentina's hopes alive by winning both his matches, but it was nice to see the Czechs come through, I do admit. There will be no final in Mar del Plata this year. And Berdych plus Stepanek... that is a seriously underrated team.

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And then, finally, to what I thought was the most exciting tie, Spain against Germany. I bet you anything that Fernando Verdasco is going to be filthy with himself for letting that match with Kohlschreiber slip between his fingers. It must be very difficult for him to let someone else wear the mantle of hero for Spain when it's belonged to him for quite some time now. But I think we have to say that the hero was an oldie but a goodie, Juan Carlos Ferrero. He was thrown in at the last minute to replace Tommy Robredo in the singles, and he played a lovely match to beat the talented Andreas Beck in straights. Though what would have been really interesting is if Germany had played Kiefer... or if Haas was playing this tie. I'd venture to say that if Haas had played, Spain would have gone down.

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So the semis are set. Davis Cup pick for this year? I'm going to go with the Czechs. Underrated and unappreciated, I reckon they have what it takes...

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup

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Czech Republic 3, Argentina 2

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Juan Martin del Potro def. Tomas Berdych, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Radek Stepanek def. Juan Monaco, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-2

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Croatia 3, USA 2

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Marin Cilic def. James Blake, 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-2

Bob Bryan def. Roko Karanusic, 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

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Israel 4, Russia 1

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Igor Andreev def. Dudi Sela, 4-3 retired

Harel Levy def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-2)

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Spain 3, Germany 2

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-4 6-2 1-6 2-6 8-6

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Andreas Beck, 6-4 6-4 6-4

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Rajeev Ram def. Sam Querrey, 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-3

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GDF SUEZ Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Agnes Szavay def. Patty Schnyder, 2-6 6-4 6-2

Praise and Blame

Israel beat Russia.

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Israel beat Russia.

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That was not supposed to happen. That was not in the script!

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It was the doubles guys that clinched the win for Israel - the match went five sets with the Russians fighting hard, but the experience of Erlich and Ram won out in the end. However, I think you have to give the hero label that inevitably comes up in this situations to the Israeli singles guys, Dudi Sela and Harel Levy - in particular, Levy, who overcame a deficit of something like a hundred rankings places to beat Andreev (who, according to Safin, was the only fit Russian on the team).

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It'll be interesting to see what happens to Tarpischev now... I mean, sure, the Russians did not have their best team out there. No Davydenko and no Tursunov. But the villain of the piece - for as there is a hero, there is someone who needs to be blamed - will be Andreev, poor guy. Davis Cup must be so hard for players, because it's totally foreign. You lose early in a tournament, and you have no one to blame but yourself and it's only yourself that you've let down, in effect. Lose a bad match in Davis Cup? You've let your nation down. And this is one of the only fora in which tennis players play as a nation. The pressure must be totally immense.

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All other ties are still alive - I'll be interested to see if the Americans can make anything happen against the Croats, but I doubt it. The Croats are looking better than they have since they won the Cup a few years ago. Karlovic and Cilic... there's a team to watch out for!

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup

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Czech Republic 2, Argentina 1

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Berdych/Stepanek def Acasuso/Mayer, 6-1 6-4 6-3

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Croatia 2, USA 1

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Marin Cilic def. Mardy Fish, 4-6 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 8-6

Bryan/Bryan def. Karanusic/Zovko, 6-3 6-1 6-3

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Israel 3, Russia 0

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Erlich/Ram def. Kunitsyn/Safin, 6-3 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 4-6 6-4

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Spain 2, Germany 1

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Lopez/Verdasco def. Kiefer/Zverev, 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Rajeev Ram def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

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Bastad Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-5 6-4

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GDF SUEZ Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Patty Schnyder def. Edina Gallovits, 6-2 6-4

Agnes Szavay def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-1 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Alisa Kleybanova, 5-7 7-5 6-2

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)

The Magic of Five

Well, here we are on one of those rare few days of the year that there is no tennis going on, wondering what to write about. Indian Wells doesn't start for a couple of days, and so there is not a whole lot to be saying.

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So I guess we can talk about Davis Cup some more, because there were some very interesting ties in there.

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The one that looked like it would be the most fun to watch, despite the fact that the biggest name players it featured were Thomas Johansson and Dudi Sela, was Israel vs. Sweden. I mean, come on, a tie that came down to a fifth set in the fifth rubber that went 8-6? That's some serious goodness right there. I bet the crowd were glued to that match between Andreas Vinciguerra and Harel Levy, even if they had no clue who either player was. When a match goes that long, I think you learn the quality of the man, the quality of the player. I bet the crowd won't forget that one in a hurry.

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There really is something about five-set tennis. I daresay most of the most memorable matches of all time went five sets. In my personal favourite bank I have a couple of Federer whitewashes that only went three sets (major faves!) but as far as quality goes, where you want a huge tooth and nail struggle, it's five sets all the way. Federer and Nadal at Wimbledon and again at the Aussie Open, and in Rome in '06. Nadal and Verdasco this year. Federer and Safin in '05. Roddick and Younes el Aynaoui, with the fifth set that went 21-19. Tursunov and Roddick at Davis Cup, where I think the fifth went 19-17 or something like that. They're the immortal matches that will be remembered.

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I know five set tennis is taxing and the fact that it's kept for Grand Slams and Davis Cup makes it special, but purely from a viewer's perspective, I wish there were more of it. It was so great when the finals of Masters Series events (1000 events now, I suppose) went five sets - who will ever forget that titanic struggle between the King and the Boss in Rome in 2006, where both held championship points? I've really come quite a long way off topic from Israel and Sweden, but it doesn't matter, really... my point still stands. I love five set tennis. And I wish there were more.

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But I bet the players don't! It must be sooooooo exhausting...