Davydenko and Other Disappointments

Spain have been sufficiently kept real. No Davis Cup threepeat for them. One tennis journalist wrote that while the defeat wasn't necessarily surprising, the 3-0 blowout was. I agree totally. Any nation is at risk against the hyper-talented France, but I would have expected Spain to have at least won one of the first three rubbers.

Nando Verdasco is going to wear this back home and no mistake. All the previous Davis Cup heroics will be forgotten in the face of his new found bunny status. I guess he'll just be hoping that Spain is too focused on the World Cup to care (which, to be fair, is probably true).


The Czech Republic are also through - without Berdych and Stepanek, which is a massive result for them - but the real battles going on are the two that are still alive, Russia vs Argentina and Croatia vs Serbia. They're both technically anyone-can-win, but you really have to like the team that took the doubles rubber in both situations.


In the former, that is Argentina. A lot is going to rest on Nikolay Davydenko, and he doesn't sound incredibly optimistic. He was phenomenally disappointing against David Nalbandian in the first singles rubber. I mean, sure, Nalbandian is awesome and all and he always brings it at Davis Cup, but Kolya was totally under par. Very disappointing. I'd be putting my faith in Mikhail Youzhny if I were the Russian Davis Cup captain - he seems like Russia's best bet for an equaliser.


And for Croatia, who are down one rubber to two, it's all on the shoulders of mighty Marin Cilic. He is certainly capable of taking out Novak Djokovic, but Djokovic is coming off a great Wimbledon and Cilic has not been in great form of late. However, if he brings it, if he throws the kitchen sink at Djokovic, he definitely has a chance. I thought Davydenko/Nalbandian was going to be the match of the weekend and it was totally disappointing. Maybe Cilic/Djokovic will be the one to remember instead...

Bad Luck for Lady J

So if I were Jelena Jankovic, I would be in a massive snit right now.

I've been pretty critical of JJ in the past, but she really brought it all to the table in Fed Cup at the weekend. She played some stellar matches to beat first Alisa Kleybanova and then, more tellingly, Svetlana Kuznetsova. And, if we are to believe her website, she came within a hair's breadth of pulling out injured and yet she played and won anyway. Quality work for Lady J.

Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, has no such excuse. She isn't exactly match tired, given as she managed to win a grand total of a set at this year's Australian Open. She isn't injured, as far as anyone's aware. All she seems to do is lope around on golf courses with Adam Scott, though I presume, she, like, trains and stuff. And she contributed absolutely nothing to the Serbian team on the weekend. She got steamrolled by both Kuznetsova and Kleybanova before dragging Jankovic down with her in the doubles. Who else is on the Serbian team? Couldn't Jankovic have played with a different partner?

It is such a shame, because the Serbian Fed Cup team should be, by all rights, awesome. How did the Ana who won Roland Garros in 2008 and reached the final year before turn into this pale shadow of what she was? What exactly went wrong?

Sigh. Alas for them.

You know who I was impressed with, though? (Apart from Lady J, obviously?) Yanina Wickmayer. Belgium could be such a force in Fed Cup this year if they get Kim and Justine back in the side - or even just one of them, because Yanina is seriously awesome. I really like her chances of breaking into the top ten this year. She has some moves. That match she played against Agnesizka Radwanska has to be the match of the weekend. And Kirsten Flipkens definitely did not disappoint either. Imagine Kim, Justine, Yanina and Flipper making up a Fed Cup team. Now that would be sweet.

Something else that could also be sweet is the Russia/USA match up in the next round. What we should be seeing is some combination of Safina/Dementieva/Kuznetsova/Zvonareva/Sharapova taking on the Williams sisters. What I suspect we'll see is Melanie Oudin vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but I can hope...

The Other Fed in Tennis

I really wish Fed Cup was more awesome. I also wish Davis Cup was more awesome, but it's not struggling with quite the same level of not-awesome as Fed Cup is. It's not that the tennis is any less good (within the normal ATP/WTA parameters anyway, considering that men's tennis is in a golden age and women's tennis is not) but hardly any of the top players seem to have a desire to play Fed Cup, and that is not good.

The Davis Cup is one of those accessories that players like to have, a good trophy to have on the shelf. It's not a Slam or anything, but it is a rare opportunity for players to represent their nations and play as a team, not an individual. Even Federer, a pathological non-player of Davis Cup, has said he would like to win it one day... though this may be because it is the only trophy his decorated mantlepiece is missing. It's played at stupid times and is not well organised, but Davis Cup has prestige.

Whereas Fed Cup... not so much.

Look at Russia, powerhouse of women's tennis. They have Safina, Sharapova, Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Zvonareva... a virtually inexhaustible stream of top women. Yet who is playing? Sveta, sure, after she declared herself available at the last minute, and Alisa Kleybanova, who, while not crappy, is not exactly top ten. They're playing Serbia, who do have two former #1s in Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, but with the form of these two players at the moment, Russia should be crushing them. Instead, it's one-all.

And Belgium! Clijsters and Henin, hello? But no, it's Wickmayer and Flipkens stepping up to the plate. USA? Should be Williams and Williams. But no, it's Oudin and Mattek-Sands. The top women just don't play Fed Cup.

But you know the very first step to making Fed Cup more appetising for these top players? Do not schedule it the week after a Slam. This is not rocket science. Davis Cup is also guilty of this. If you want your top players in there, you have to schedule it at a time wherein they haven't, say, played seven five set matches in a row.

This is not a new rant. But that does not make it any less true. If Davis and Fed Cups are going to become truly awesome, then they need to schedule it better.

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)

Heroes and Heroines

Okay, Rafael Nadal. He's not real, yeah?

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Five consecutive Monte Carlo titles. Now five consecutive Barcelona titles. All signs are pointing to five consecutive Roland Garros titles. He isn't real. He can't be real. He's a machine.

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It's going to be interesting to see how he goes at Rome this week - he's played pretty much every day for the last two weeks. Last year, he went out in the opening round to Juan Carlos Ferrero, but he was covered in blisters and could barely move. This year... I can't remember exactly who it is, but he's not facing anyone of the calibre of Ferrero in the opening round. How far can Rafa take this ride? I, for one, don't see anyone beating him soon.

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But I have been wrong before - I certainly did not see Italy beating Russia in the semis of the Fed Cup! To some extent, Russia was the victim of Shamil Tarpischev - personally, I think he could have made some better choices in who to deploy when (seriously - Chakvetadze over Petrova? WTF?) but all credit to the Italian girls, who did fabulously. Francesca Schiavone in particular is the heroine - she had that great win over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day One, and then fought hard to take out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (who did fight gamely).

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It's going to be an interesting final - I certainly wouldn't have picked Italy/USA! Full credit to the American girls as well, because the Czech Republic is a powerhouse in women's tennis, with Benesova, Kvitova and Safarova on their team. The word here has to go out to Alexa Glatch, who was absolutely exceptional - I'll be interested to see more of her in the future!

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And Australia, down in the World Group II playoff, had a great win over Switzerland - with Stosur and Dokic on our side, I think we have a pretty sweet chance in the future! If Pennetta and Schiavone can do it, and Glatch and Mattek-Sands... why not Sam and Jelena?

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Today's Results

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Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (Barcelona)

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Rafael Nadal def. David Ferrer, 6-2 7-5

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Fed Cup

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Italy 4, Russia 1

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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-0 6-3

Francesca Schiavone def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-2

Errani/Vinci def. Petrova/Pavlyuchenkova, 1-6 6-3 6-4

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USA 3, Czech Republic 2

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Lucie Safarova def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3 6-1

Alexa Glatch def. Petra Kvitova, 6-2 6-1

Mattek-Sands/Huber def. Peschke/Benesova, 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

The Real Loser

All Spanish final in Barcelona. Big surprise. I bet the organisers are happy. Yay Rafa, yay Ferru.

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Okay, enough of that. Now - Fed Cup!

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Well, well, well, Italy. Talk about the little Fed Cup team that could. I would never, ever have picked this one - though I believe Van, of Tennis Talk, Anyone? and VANtage Point fame did, so kudos to him! One upset match is something, but to take a 2-0 lead over a country that is undoubtedly the powerhouse of women's tennis? That is something else.

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To be fair, Russia doesn't have its top, top players - neither Safina nor Dementieva are on the squad - but I don't know what Shamil Tarpischev was thinking, playing Chakvetadze instead of Petrova or even Pavlyuchenkova, who both are on the team and have both played better than Anna has this year. It'll be interesting to see the new moves Russia pulls out today, because you'd want to hope they'd fight back with a vengeance.

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Australia's doing well in Fed Cup too - we're up 2-0 in our tie against Switzerland - but that isn't the real tennis news here right now. Tennis Australia has announced that the Australian Davis Cup team will not go to Chennai to play our tie, due to security concerns - which, given the current Indian political climate, is fair enough. TA has petitioned the ITF to get the tie moved, but this was rejected, which means that Australia forfeits the tie.

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Naturally, there is some anger - both Geoff Pollard (CEO of Tennis Australia) and John Fitzgerald (the team captain) have spoken out against the ITF's decision. I can't say I know enough about the particular circumstances to make a real comment - I studied Indian politics at university, but that about three years back now - but the appeal for the move is not without precedent: the IPL (the cricket league, for those of you unfamiliar) has moved to South Africa because of unrest in India. This was ruled irrelevant in the Davis Cup case, much to the ire of the aforementioned Pollard and Fitzgerald.

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Whether or not the tie should be moved or the team should go or whatever, you have to feel for the players here. After that nailbiter over Thailand, they really deserved the opportunity to play this tie. I love following the Davis Cup team, even though the likelihood we'll win anytime in the near future is minute. Fitzgerald said the following:

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"We have worked so hard to get back in to World Group contention, to have it snatched away like this is gut wrenching."

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Could not agree more. Whatever the political situation, the real loser here is sport.

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Today's Results

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Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (Barcelona)

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Rafael Nadal def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3 6-2

David Ferrer def. Fernando Gonzalez, 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

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Fed Cup

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Italy 2, Russia 0

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Flavia Pennetta def. Anna Chakvetadze, 6-4 6-0

Francesca Schiavone def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 1-6 6-2 6-3

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USA 1, Czech Republic 1

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Petra Kvitova def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

Alexa Glatch def. Iveta Benesova, 6-1 6-2

The Amazing Disappearing Act of Mikhail Youzhny

Whatever happened to Mikhail Youzhny?

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I noticed this when I was at the Australian Open, actually, but there was so much else going on that I didn't give any more thought to it. A couple of years ago he was making major semis and beating Rafa and doing all kinds of things, including accidentally smashing his head open with his own tennis racquet. Now - where is he?

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It's kind of silly to ask the second he turns up again - he had a first round win against a qualifier in Rotterdam. But seriously, has he been injured? He lost first round at the Aussie - I can't remember who to, but I was surprised. Has he just been out of form? He's certainly taken a dive down the rankings - I'm not sure exactly where he fits in now, but he's unseeded in Rotterdam, and he was certainly unseeded at the Australian Open. That certainly never used to be the case. I can't remember him ever actually making it into the top ten, but he was certainly up there in the #11, #12 region for a while, and I remember him being the Russian #2 (behind Davydenko) was a long time. He's definitely behind both Safin and Tursunov now - oh, and Andreev, and maybe even Kunitsyn and Gabashvili. Anyone know what went down with him?

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And in the women's side, the mysterious one has got to Agnes Szavay. I heard all these good things about her last year, and yet every name her name pops up, it seems to be a first round loss. So what's going on there?

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Today's Results

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ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam)

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Julien Benneteau def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-4 5-7 6-2

Mikahil Youzhny def. Laurent Recouderc, 6-4 6-4

Dmitry Tursunov def. Arnaud Clement, 6-0 6-3

Nikolay Davydenko def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-2

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SAP Open (San Jose)

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Florent Serra def. Jarkko Nieminen, 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

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Movistar Open (Vina del Mar)

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Fernando Gonzalez def. Jose Acasuso, 6-1 6-3

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Open GDF SUEZ (Paris)

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Li Na def. Agnes Szavay, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2

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PTT Pattaya Open (Pattaya City)

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Peng Shuai def. Mara Santangelo, 3-6 5-2 retired

Vera Dushevina def. Elena Bovina, 6-4 7-5

Galina Voskoboeva def. Jarmila Groth, 4-6 6-2 6-1

Ksenia Pervak def. Tomoko Yonemura, 6-1 6-1

Chairface Triumphs

And so the long-awaited day arrived - the day when Marat Safin and Dinara Safina would step up to the plate together for the first time and represent Russia. And I have to say that, despite Marat showing up looking like someone had hit him with a chair (which, quite possibly, they had), they put on a very good show.

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Let's start with Dinara. She got herself in all sorts of trouble in her match against Flavia Pennetta - only to be expected in the first match of the season, I guess - but she showed the prowess of a real champion by getting herself out again. Take the second set, for example: she's down 3-0, which is a double break, and then steps it up and reels off six straight games to take the set. Pennetta's level did lower a bit, but I wouldn't say she let Dinara back into the match per se. She didn't giftwrap those six games for her. Dinara stepped up and took on them. She's looking like a real threat for the Australian Open, and wouldn't it be something else to see her win it?!

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Now, Marat. I wasn't expecting too much from the big guy, considering a) he stepped off a plane late last night, and b) someone has obviously hit him in the face with a chair. (Brief digression: Marat and the black eyes and the thumb and the bruised shoulder... and the talk of 'new bosses' next year. Anyone else's mind leap right to Marat Safin, Russian mobster? Because mine sure did.) However, I was very pleasantly surprised. He really is a lovely player (especially when his shots went in.) His returning was not so hot for the majority of the match, but he more than made up for it with an absolute clinic of serving. Seriously, I have never seen him serve better than that. He hit the lines very consistently, and there was just no way Simone Bolelli could even touch half of them. And then Marat hit some lovely forehand winners, and his backhand is always an explosive thing of beauty when he's not shanking it all over the shop... and how 'bout that pass on the run he picked up? He was about twelve kilometres out of court, and to send it rocketing back in like that was positively Federesque.

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And then we come to the doubles... and although Marat might be the worst doubles player in the history of the universe, he and Dinara did all right for themselves, even though they lost the match. He clearly fatigued towards the end of the match (as you would, if you had just come off a plane and had been hit in the face with a chair) but Dinara more than held her end up. One of Marat's biggest problems was, shockingly enough, being too much of a gentleman - Pennetta pounded on him something severe, and he kept on giving her easy balls. Never thought I'd ever say Marat Safin was a gentleman, but there you have it.

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The doubles loss might hurt them if it comes to a countback against France, but I don't think it'll come down to that. If Russia win against Chinese Taipei (which they probably will, if Marat holds up his end in the singles) and France win against Italy (which, again, they probably should, though Cornet/Pennetta will be very interesting) then it'll all come down to the Russia/France tie, and won't that be a cracker...?

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Oh, and a word for Monica Wejnert. She may have gone down to a much higher ranked opponent in Marion Bartoli in her first tour level match, but she certainly didn't embarrass herself. Well done, Miss Monica!

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Today's Results

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Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

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Russia 2, Italy 1

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Dinara Safina def. Flavia Pennetta, 7-5 6-3

Marat Safin def. Simone Bolelli, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Pennetta/Bolelli def. Safina/Safin, 5-7 6-4 10-2 (match tiebreaker)

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Brisbane International (Brisbane)

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Men's Draw

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Richard Gasquet def. Marc Gicquel, 4-6 6-2 6-2

Robin Soderling def. Sam Querrey, 6-3 6-3

Julien Benneteau def. Robby Ginepri, 3-6 6-3 7-5

Taylor Dent def. Steve Darcis, 7-6 (0) 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Jarmila Gajdosova def. Shuai Peng, 6-4 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-0 6-2

Marion Bartoli def. Monica Wejnert, 6-1 6-2

Alisa Kleybanova def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-1 6-4

Miracle Territory

We have a point! A whole one! I don't know if I've ever been so pleased by an Australian tennis result in my life. Trust me to only get behind my country when we have absolutely no chance of winning. But still! a point! A whole, entire point! Yay! Good work, Guccione and Ball!

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That said, we are still going to lose - I can envision no universe in which Gonzalez loses to Guccione. But Luczak has the capability of beating Massu if he plays well, and 3-2 ain't nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, we avoided being whitewashed 5-0 - there should be dancing in the streets anyway!

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Tennis Australia described the win as 'miraculous' and I do not disagree. We will need a miracle to win this tie - and I don't think it'll be delivered. Nonetheless, we took our first baby steps into miracle territory. Even though we're not very good, I find this Davis Cup team so exciting. Give it a few years, and we are going to rock the tennis house.

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Surprisingly few teams closed out their ties today - Switzerland and Serbia were the only ones. If Federer and Wawrinka commit to playing a full year of Davis Cup next year, I don't know who would gainsay their chances - Spain, maybe, if they played Nadal and Ferrer and it was on clay, would start favourites against them, but I can't think of anyone else.

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Meanwhile, Britain is in big trouble... it'll be sad if they don't claw back into the World Group, because they probably deserve it more than Austria, in that they have a top singles player and a top doubles player. Nonetheless, if they don't win, then they don't deserve to be there. Snaps to Austria.

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Meanwhile, what a match that was in the Argentina/Russia tie! I'm glad Russia won it and kept the tie alive, because it is such an intriguing match up! It'll be really interesting to see which way it goes tomorrow, especially in the Davydenko/Nalbandian match. Del Potro will probably close it out for Argentina, I would imagine, but anything can happen with those crazy Russians. And speaking of crazy, I was obviously a little insane to doubt the ability of Mike Bryan to pair with someone else, as he and Mardy Fish managed quite nicely in their win. Somehow I don't see Andy Roddick beating Rafa Nadal tomorrow, but, like the Aussies, at least they managed to get a point.

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And well done to my girl Dinara Safina, who is in yet another Tier I final! She plays Svetlana Kuznetsova for the Tokyo crown, and somehow I'm feeling Dinara on this one... I wonder why.

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup Semi Finals

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Argentina 2, Russia 1

Kunitsyn/Tursunov def. Canas/Nalbandian, 6-2 6-1 6-7 (9-11) 3-6 8-6

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Spain 2, USA 1

Bryan/Fish def. Lopez/Verdasco, 4-6 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-4

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Davis Cup Playoffs

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Chile 2, Australia 1

Ball/Guccione def. Gonzalez/Massu, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 5-7 7-5

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Austria 2, Great Britain 1

Knowle/Melzer def. Murray/Hutchins, 6-4 6-3 6-1

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Switzerland 3, Belgium 0

Federer/Wawrinka def. Malisse/Rochus, 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-3

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Croatia 2, Brazil 1

Melo/Sa def. Karlovic/Zovko, 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

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Israel 2, Peru 1

Levy/Ram def. Echazu/Silva, 6-1 6-1 6-2

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Netherlands 2, Korean Republic 1

Huta Galung/Wessels def. Jun/Lee, 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-3

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Romania 2, India 1

Bhupathi/Paes def. Cruciat/Tecau, 6-4 7-6 (7-0_ 6-4

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Serbia 3, Slovak Republic 0

Troicki/Zimonjic def. Mertinak/Polasek, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-5)

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Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

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Dinara Safina def. Nadia Petrova, 6-1 6-0

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Katarina Srebotnik, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

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TOE Life Ceramics Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou)

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Vera Zvonareva def. Zheng Jie, 6-3 7-5

Peng Shuai def. Camille Pin, 6-2 6-1

Nothing's Out Of Reach If You've Got Long Arms

If you're sick of talking Davis Cup, stop reading now.

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Let's start with the Argentinians today. They are, I feel, a perpetually underestimated tennis nation, and yet they're always up here in Davis Cup. I can't remember a time they weren't in the last four... that said, my Davis Cup memory is not the best, as I don't normally follow it as closely as normal tour tennis. Nonetheless, this Davis Cup week is pretty interesting, and the performance of the Argentinians is going to be intriguing.

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Nalbandian and del Potro are the singles players, which I think is a very smart move. Argentina has tennis depth, but, unlike Spain, who are arguably the deepest nation in men's tennis at the moment, they don't have any players that are massive superstars. At the moment, that is - Nalbandian has been a superstar, but he hasn't been playing like one this year. Del Potro is well on his way to being a superstar, but he's got a way to go yet. He is only about twelve years old, we must remember.

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The outcome of this tie is going to be very much on Argentina's racquet, I feel - more particularly, on the racquet of David Nalbandian. Despite his otherwise mediocre record this year, he is flawless in Davis Cup. Both Andreev and Davydenko, the singles players for Russia, are capable of beating him. That said, he is more than capable of beating both of them. He is more talented than Davydenko and more refined than Andreev, and if he can pull out a GoodDave, as opposed to a LameDave, performance, then I would put good money on Argentina to win.

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I'd normally go for Russia every time in this equation - the Tursunov factor - but I find myself pulling for Argentina this time, just a bit. Mostly because I think a match up between them and Spain would be incredibly compelling. What happens when you put Nadal and Nalbandian on a court together? WHAT HAPPENS?

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Another tie that is going to be very interesting is Croatia vs. Brazil playoff. You'd have to go with Croatia, who are playing Karlovic, Cilic and Ancic, but Brazil's team might be a dark horse. Presumably they're playing Melo and Sa, their gun doubles team, and probably Thomaz Bellucci too... hey, we could see a Cilic/Bellucci Stars of the Future Showdown! Move over Grapple in the Apple!

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Meanwhile, Australia has finally named their team, though I suppose they are still capable of pulling a swap - we have up till an hour before we take the court, yesno? Guccione and Luczak are the singles players (Luczak has to play Gonzalez first, poor bugger) and then Smeets and Ball will play the doubles. Groth, Tomic and Klein will have to watch from the sidelines, I guess. Still, Aussie Aussie Aussie!

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There was a great quote from John Fitzgerald today - someone asked him if thought Gooch was going to be able to bear the burden of being team leader, and he said 'he's got big shoulders.' I loved that. Who knows? We'll need a miracle to win this one, but nothing's out of reach if you've got long arms.

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In other, non-Davis Cup news, the nightmare continues for Ana Ivanovic, who got beaten by Nadia Petrova in Tokyo... I thought not being #1 would settle her down a bit, but obviously not....

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Today's Results

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Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

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Jelena Jankovic def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-2 6-1

Nadia Petrova def. Ana Ivanovic, 6-1 1-6 6-2

Elena Dementieva def. Alizé Cornet, 6-0 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Ayumi Morita, 6-1 6-1

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Marion Bartoli, 6-2 6-3

Katarina Srebotnik def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 6-3

Kaia Kanepi def. Virginie Razzano, 6-4 6-2

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TOE Life Ceramics Guangzhou International Women's Open

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Vera Zvonareva def. Xu Yi-Fan, 6-1 7-6 (7-4)

Zheng Jie def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-4 6-0

Peng Shuai def. Lu Jingjing, 6-3 6-4

Arantxa Rus def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-4

Tamira Paszek def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-2 2-6 6-3

Camille Pin def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 2-6 6-0 6-2

Matters of National Importance

We talked a bit about Davis Cup the other day - so let's talk about Fed Cup. Isn't it incredible that a country can have its top three players be unavailable and STILL be the favourites to win? I'm talking Russia against Spain. Sharapova's out injured, Safina and Dementieva are absolutely exhausted, and still the Russians have got a great team. Svetlana Kuznetsova is their big gun, and they're also playing Vera Zvonareva, Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova. And there's even more depth if they wanted it: Nadia Petrova, Anna Chakvetadze, Alisa Kleybanova, Alla Kudryavtseva, and even the rookie Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has a couple of junior Slams under her belt. Isn't that incredible, how one country can have so many options?

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I wonder what would happen if our top three women dropped out for Fed Cup. At the moment, that's Casey Dellacqua, Sam Stosur and Alicia Molik - now she's retired, that'd bump up the next player, which would be Jessica Moore. So even if Jess Moore played, that means our Fed Cup team would consist of her, Jelena Dokic, Monique Adamczak and Sophie Ferguson. Next player down is Christina Wheeler. I'd play the young guns instead - Isabella Holland and Sally Peers and co. Somehow, I think we would get our collective arse kicked, but at least we'd be doing something different.

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Pretty much like in Davis Cup, actually.

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There was a nice article on the Tennis Australia website the other day about Sam Groth, who is one of those rookies playing on the Davis Cup team I'd never heard of. Apparently he had his first ever ATP win in July in Nottingham over Jamie Baker. Slightly more impressive, I thought, was the fact that he beat Janko Tipsarevic in qualifying. So he is capable of playing above his rank, it seems... not that it looks like it'll help much. I'd guess the only chance he'll get to play singles is in a dead rubber. John Fitzgerald would be a fool not to play Guccione and Luczak in the first rubbers. I'm guessing Chile will play Gonzalez and Massu... Luczak is a good claycourter and he did beat Stan Wawrinka that time in Davis Cup and Guccione has that monster serve, so there's some small possibility we might win a rubber or two... but I wouldn't bet on much.

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Look at me. I pretend to be all unconcerned about nationality in tennis, and here I am agonising over Davis Cup and Fed Cup. Oh well. I suppose they are a bit special.

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Today's Results

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BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

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Richard Gasquet def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-1

Gilles Simon def. Florent Serra, 6-2 6-3

Carlos Moya def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 5-7 6-3 6-4

Jose Acasuso def. Ivan Navarro, 6-4 6-4

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Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (Bali)

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Daniela Hantuchova def. Chan Yung-Jan, 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Marta Domachowska, 6-2 6-2

Tamira Paszek def. Flavia Pennetta, 4-6 6-0 6-2

Nadia Petrova def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 6-3