France defeats Austria in exciting clash to book quarterfinal berth at the Davis Cup 2011
Last year’s runner-up and this year’s second seed, France, battled out a tough rubber with Austria to finally emerge victorious and move into the Davis Cup World group quarterfinals at the Vienna International Airport, Vienna, Austria.
The French team consisted of Gilles Simon, the World no.30, Michael Llodra, no.27, Julien Benneteau, no.82 and Jeremy Chardy, no.55. Notable absentees were Jo Wilfred-Tsonga, the World no.16, Gael Monfils, World no.12 and Richard Gasquet, ranked 21st
in the world.
While the French team might have looked second-string, they looked like a formidable force in comparison to the Austrians. Despite the inclusion of World no.10 Jurgen Melzer, they lacked the quality that their opponents possessed in such abundance. Melzer
was the only player amongst them ranked within the World Top 100. His main lieutenant was Martin Fischer, the 138th best player on the ATP tour. Stefan Koubek was the captain’s third pick, and Oliver Marach was the near-obligatory doubles specialist.
The rubber got underway on Friday, with Jurgen Melzer, as the host number one, taking on Jeremy Chardy. Melzer was expected to win easily, considering the fact that he was ranked 45 places above his opponent. Chardy however, pulled off one of the greatest
upsets of this year’s tournament. Unfazed by the away crowd, he razed their hero to ashes in straight sets. Melzer lost 5-7, 4-6, 5-7, a very tame defeat. Chardy had gotten France off to the dream start by taking down the only man that stood between them and
victory.
The next match was to be played between the home number two and the away number one. These positions fell to Stefan Koubek and Gilles Simon respectively. Simon is ranked over a hundred places above his opponent, and that advantage paid, as he won the match
very dominantly. The first set was thunderous, with the Frenchman not conceding a game and winning 6-0. Koubek settled somewhat, but couldn’t do anything as his opponent gained break after break. Soon enough, the match was Simon’s, with the final score being
6-0, 6-2, 6-3.
Saturday rolled around with France leading 2-0 and heading into the doubles tie. For this purpose, the away team picked Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau. On the other hand, Austria allowed Melzer to redeem himself by pairing him up with Oliver Marach.
Melzer is a deft hand at doubles and won the Wimbledon doubles crown in 2010. Marach specializes in doubles, and this team-up allowed Austria to get back into the rubber. The pair conceded one set and took three to close the match pretty easily. The final
score turned out to be 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
With the score at 2-1, Jurgen Melzer had a chance to come back completely. And so he did. Facing Gilles Simon, he fought back from 1-2 to take the match in style, taking the last set 6-0.
The fight-back came to an end with the scores tied; the deciding match saw Jeremy Chardy face off with Martin Fischer. The Frenchman justified his selection here as he took the match in four sets, handing France the victory and quarterfinal passage.
In the next round, France faces Germany away from home. If their best players regain match fitness by then France will board the plane as the heavy favourite, but that still remains to be seen.
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