Argentina secures a berth in the Davis Cup 2010 semi-finals
David Nalbandian, the Argentinean tennis ace gave a decisive blow to the Russians to secure a berth for the Argentinean Davis Cup team in the semi-finals to be held in September. Played in the Russian capital of Moscow, the home team put up a quiet fight for their guests. Prior to this arrangement, Argentina had played against Russia on two occasions in Moscow. Both of the previous ties were lost by the visiting team. This time however, Nalbandian was adamant to see Argentina through to the Davis Cup finals by finally ending the Russians 17 tie winning streak at home.
France, after defeating defending champions Spain, were searching for an opponent for their Davis Cup semi finals. Well they have their answer now. The Russians after this tie still lead the head-to-head score by 3-2 against the Argentineans. The first rubber between Nalbandian and Russia’s No. 1 Nikolay Davydenko started off with a comfortable start from both the sides. After the 1-1 game tie in the first set, Davydenko took the game lead to 2-1 when Nalbandian hit the ball outside the court. Nalbandian took the fourth game of the set comfortably as he seemed to rule the court. After playing some accurate and variable shots, Davydenko struggled to return the shots. But the first set was taken by Nalbandian in a straight set victory of 6-4. The second set saw Davydenko dominating in the beginning with a 3-0 game score. Nalbandian started to come back as he took the score to a 6-6 tie. The tiebreaker was won by Nalbandian when he jumped to play the return to Davydenko’s slow shot ending in a 7-6(5) set win. The third set saw a tie again when in the tiebreaker and Nalbandian scored another 8 point win to take the set 7-6(6).
The second rubber was played between Mikhail Youzhny and Leonardo Mayer. Youzhny easily scored a victory against the 58th ranked Mayer. The Argentinean played some really neat volleys to his opponent but Youzhny knew how to score game after game. In the fourth game of the second set, Mayer returned some very difficult drops to Youzhny but his opponent had a court presence of which he was no match. Mayer played an extremely great pick from between his feet backwards but still couldn’t score on that rally. Youzhny on the other hand with his variable shots kept him running in all directions. The Russians took the second rubber 6-3 6-1 6-4 bringing the score to 1-1.
The third doubles rubber played between the Russian team of Nikolay Davydenko/Igor Kunitsyn and Argentinean team of Eduardo Schwank/Horacio Zeballos was an interesting one. Both the teams were playing with a strong head. After taking the first set off a tiebreaker at 7-6(7), the Argentinean duo took the second set pretty comfortably with a score of 6-4. The next set was taken by Russia with a score of 7-6(3) when they restricted their opponents to 3 points in the tie breaker. But after that, the Argentineans comfortably took the final set by 6-1 to take the second rubber.
After the Russian Davydenko took the fourth rubber to bring his side to a 2-2 tie with the Argentineans, everything was depending on the final rubber death match between Youzhny and Nalbandian. Both the captains seemed tense as the final showdown began. The first set went into a tiebreak where Nalbandian took over his opponent 7-6(5). A sizeable Argentinean crowd seemed more upbeat than their counterparts in Moscow. The crowds’ spirit played a part in the Argentinean win. After winning the second set at 6-4, Nalbandian outshone Russia’s 14th ranked player despite Nalbandian’s injury record. When the match started, there were no favorites as Nalbandian was a seasoned player. On the other hand, Youzhny came into the match without losing a single Davis Cup rubber at home since five years. In the third set, Youzhny had a tough task at hand but Nalbandian broke the Russian. With his signature low out swinging drives, the Argentinean finally made his side through to the semi-finals. With this Argentinean victory of 3-2, Russia’s 14-year unbeaten record in Davis Cup matches at home was put to an end. Argentina will now play France in the semi finals in September.
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