2010 Davis Cup Final Preview – Nenad Zimonjic/Viktor Troicki vs. Michael Llodra/Arnaud Clement
The second instalment of the 2010 Davis Cup (DC) Final comes on Saturday when France meets Serbia in a doubles match. First time finalists Serbia take on nine-time winners France in the DC Final currently underway in Belgrade.
The first day of the final saw two singles matches as French Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon met Serbs Janko Tipsarevic and Novak Djokovic respectively. Although Monfils defeated Tipsarevic to take France one up in the lead, Serbia
quickly tied the score with Djokovic’s victory over Simon.
With Serbia and France tied at 1-1, the doubles match on Saturday is a crucial matchup for both teams. France’s Michael Llodra teams up with compatriot Arnaud Clement to take on the Serbian duo of Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki.
Zimonjic comes from a doubles title win last Sunday at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Partnered with Canadian Daniel Nestor in the season finale, the pair was seeded second in the event. Having had a successful run in the
round robin stage, the Serbian/Canadian duo moved past the top seeds Bryans, Bob and Mike, in the semis to meet the Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and Belarusian Max Mirnyi in the finals. Defeating the Indian/Belarusian duo, Zimonjic and Nestor finished off their
partnership with a bang, winning the coveted doubles title at the season finale event.
With the Bryans taking the first spot, Zimonjic currently ranks at third position in the doubles ranking while his team with Nestor ranks at second position in the doubles team rankings. Partnered with Nestor, Zimonjic has won
seven titles this year. In addition to winning the title at the season finale event, Zimonjic also won titles at the Roland Garros, Monte Carlo Masters, Barcelona, Vienna, Rotterdam and Sydney. These seven titles make his career doubles title to a grand total
of 39. Zimonjic finished the regular ATP season with an impressive 59-22 mark.
His partner, Troicki has had some success in the doubles performance this season as well. Partnered with Christopher Kas, Troicki won the doubles title at Bangkok in September. He also made a final appearance at Moscow, partnered
with compatriot Tipsarevic. His singles performance this year reached a high in October when he won his third career title at Moscow in October.
Although not as strong and accomplished, the French team has a lost star (Arnaud Clement) on the team. Though he currently ranks at 68 in the doubles rankings with no titles to show for this season, he once reached the career high
of 8 in the rankings. He has more career titles in the doubles category than in the singles. Partnered with Llodra he has seven career titles in twelve final appearances. Teamed up with Olivier Rochus he made one final appearance this season at Zagreb.
Llodra, on the other hand, has had some wins this year. He won both the singles and doubles title at Marseille in February. He also won another singles title at Eastbourne in June. He also made a final appearance at the Toronto
Masters paired with Benneteau. Currently ranked at 29 in the doubles ranking, Llodra with Clement will definitely give some resistance to Zimonjic and Troicki.
With both teams bringing their A–game to the courts, the doubles match is truly going to be an exciting and entertaining event. Though no clear-cut winner can be predicted at this time, the Serbian team enjoys both a statistical
edge plus the home crowd advantage.
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