2011 Davis Cup: Kazakhstan upsets Czech Republic 3-2 to move to quarterfinal
Kazakhstan created history by reaching the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, as they defeated Czech Republic 3-2 in the first round of the World Group on Sunday.
Kazakhstan is playing in the World Group for the first time, after they upset Switzerland 5-0 in the World Group play-off last year.
In the deciding rubber, Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin beat Czech Jan Hajek in a four set thriller 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 6-0 to take his country to the next round.
The World no. 62 broke his opponent once in the opening set, winning it 6-4. He hit 5 aces and 56 percent of the first serves in the first set.
Hajek came back in the match by winning the second set 7-6(4). Both players broke each other’s serve once in the second set. The Czech saved 3 of the 4 break points he faced in the second set.
After winning the second seed, the world number 98 was looking to win the next two sets easily, as he broke Kukushkin to race to a 3-0 lead. However, Hajek broke back and took the set to a tie breaker, winning it 10-8. The Kazakh hit 64 per cent of the percent
first serves, winning 85 per cent of points in them.
Kukushkin never looked back after taking two sets to one lead, as he defeated his opponent 6-0 in the fourth set. After winning the last point, Kukushkin fell to the ground and the jubilant Kazakh team ran to the court to congratulate him.
Talking to the journalists after the win, Kukushkin said, “I was confident in my game, and today I show how I can play in this level. I and all the team, we are so happy that we won today. The most important thing was that I was fighting for every ball,
I got so many support from our crowd, from our team, I think that helped me so much. I played my best game.”
Earlier, Andrey Golubev upset Tomas Berdych in four sets 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to level the tie 2-2. Golubev played aggressively throughout the match, hitting a total of 15 aces and 90 winners. However, he also committed 61 unforced errors and 8 double faults.
Golubev said, after the match, “I needed just to be aggressive, to play my game to give him pressure and don’t let him play easy balls, and that was the key for my match today. I played one of my best matches in my career until now; especially I was concentrate
from first until last point.”
Kazakhstan will face Argentina in the quarterfinal in July, at home. This will be the first ever meeting between these two in Davis Cup. Argentina prevailed over Romania 4-1 in the first round.
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