2010 Davis Cup Finals, Saturday’s order of play
The second day of the 2010 Davis Cup Final between France and Serbia features just a doubles clash at the Belgrade Arena on Saturday. Serbia is making its debut appearance in the title battle of the Davis Cup against nine time champions France.
The opening day of the competition saw a total of two singles clashes as Gael Monfils of France met Janko Tipsarevic whereas Gilles Simon faced Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Monfils in the first rubber got the better of Janko to provide France with a lead of
1-0. However, the host nation quickly levelled the score with Novak’s win over Simon later in the day.
Both the finalists are now tied at 1-1. Therefore, Saturday’s doubles match is going to be equally important for both sides. Michael Llodra of France pairs up with his countrymen Arnaud Clement to play the Serbian tandem of Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic.
Nenad is coming off a doubles crown just a few days ago at the season finale 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Teamed up with Daniel Nestor of Canada at the elite eight team field, the duo was seeded number two to win the title.
After posting victories in the round robin stage, the Canadian/ Serbian pair of Daniel and Nenad upset the top seed Bryan Brothers from the United States of America to move into the finals. In the title battle, they met the Indian/ Belarusian duo of Mahesh
Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi and successfully got the better of them to finish the season on a high note.
Bryans despite their early exit at the World Tour Finals still enjoy the top spot. Zimonjic, on the other hand, is ranked number three in the doubles team ATP list. He along with his partner Nestor captured a total of seven double crowns in 2010.
Apart from his title run at the prestigious event in London, Zimonjic picked up titles at the French Open, Barcelona, Monte Carlo Masters, Rotterdam, Sydney and Vienna. He now owns a total of thirty-nine career double titles on the tour. The right hander
comes in with a win loss mark of 59-22 on the season.
Viktor, on the other hand, also had some success in the doubles event in 2010. Teamed up with Christopher Kas, Viktor captured the doubles crown at Bangkok earlier this year during the month of September. He also reached the final at Moscow, along with his
partner Tipsarevic. Viktor’s singles performance this season came into the lime light back in October when he captured his third singles crown at Moscow.
The French team, on the other hand, may not be as strong as their opponents. However, they do have a star in the form of, Arnaud Clement. In spite of the fact that he is currently ranked at number sixty-eight in the doubles rankings list with no trophies
in 2010, the right hander was once ranked as high as number eight in the World. He owns more doubles crowns than singles on the tour.
Teamed up with Michael Llodra, he has so far won a total of seven titles in twelve final showings. He also played as a pair along with Olivier Rochus and reached one title battle earlier this year at Zagreb.
Michael, on the other hand, has had some important victories in 2010. He captured both the singles as well as the doubles crown at Marseille back in February. The Frenchman also picked up another singles crown at Eastbourne back in June.
Llodra also made a title battle run at the Toronto Masters along with his partner Benneteau. Currently ranked number twenty-nine in the South African Airways ATP Doubles list, Michael with Clement will definitely put up a good fight against Troicki and Zimonjic.
With both sides sending their top players on the court, the doubles clash is definitely going to be an interesting one without any question. Although, the battle could go either side, the Serbian team surely enjoys the statistical edge along with the home
soil advantage.
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