2011 Davis Cup: Sweden downs Russia 3-2, progresses to quarter-finals
Sweden has defeated Russia 3-2 in the first round of the Davis Cup, World group tie to move to the quarterfinals of the championship.
Russia got two consolation wins as Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev defeated Simon Aspelin and Joachim Johansson respectively, in the two dead rubbers on Sunday.
Aspelin and Lindstedt also defeated Kunitsyn and Tursunov earlier, in the doubles match to give Sweden an unassailable 3-0 lead on Saturday.
Tursunov prevailed over Aspelin 7-5, 6-2 in the first singles match, on the third day of the tie. Aspelin, a doubles specialist, had replaced Robin Soderling to play the match as the tie was already decided and Sweden had nothing to lose.
Both players held their serves until the twelfth game when Tursunov broke Aspelin to win the opening set 7-5. The Russian hit 4 aces and 65 per cent of the first serves in the first set. In comparison, Aspelin hit 5 aces and 75 per cent of the first serves.
Tursunov did not face much resistance in the second set as he broke his opponent twice to win the set 6-2. The 30-year old hit 11 winners and the same number of unforced errors in the second set.
In the second match of the day, Andreev beat Johansson 7-6, 6-4 in 1 hour and 26 minutes.
The first set was a thriller as both players tried their best to break other’s serve but failed in doing so. Johansson received three break points in the second set, failing to convert any of them. The set went to the tie break, which Tursunov won 10-8 to clinch the opening set 7-6. Johansson served great in the first set, hitting 8 aces and 62 per cent of the first serves.
After winning the first set, Andreev needed a single break to claim the second set 6-4. The Russian hit 56 per cent of the first serves, winning 87 per cent of the points on them in the second set.
Russia missed its two best players, Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko, in the first round tie. Youzhny announced retirement from Davis Cup last month and Davydenko requested not to be selected for the tie due to personal reasons.
Russian Tursunov said, after the tie, “We had very good results in the past few years so there’s a certain expectation for us to do well but when you think of it logically, expecting things is one thing but doing things to get the results is something different. I think there’s quite a bit of readjusting to do for the team.”
On the opening day of the tie, Soderling and Johansson had given Sweden a 2-0 lead, after defeating Andreev and Gabashvili respectively.
Sweden will face Serbia in the quarterfinals in July. Serbia defeated India 4-1 in their first round tie.
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