Kazakhstan get jump on Switzerland in Davis Cup
A Kazakhstan team seeking to book their place in the Davis Cup World Group for the first time in their history made a strong start to their bid, opening up a 2-0 lead over Switzerland on day one of their play-off tie.
The day started with Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev claiming a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Swiss opponent Marco Chiudinelli.
Chiudinelli could not manufacture a single break point opportunity in the opening tie of the World Group play-off, with Golubev – undefeated in four singles rubbers he had already played Kazakhstan in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I this year – breaking once each set as he closed out the match in two hours and one minute.
While 39th ranked Golubev could rightly have expected to defeat his 72nd ranked opponent in the opening rubber, Switzerland would surely have been counting on Stanislas Wawrinka to square the ledger in the day’s second singles rubber.
After all, the world No. 20 had just delivered the best Grand Slam result of his career at the US Open, where he defeated fourth seed Andy Murray in the third round and the last of the American hopes, Sam Querrey, in the fourth as he marched into the quarter-finals, where Mikhail Youzhny took five-sets to overcome the 25-year-old.
All that after beginning the tournament with a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over current world No. 81 Mikhail Kukushkin – who just happened to be his Davis Cup opponent today.
Things looked as though they were headed in the same direction in this match too, with Wawrinka taking the first set 6-3, before Kukushkin took the next two sets to turn the match on its head.
The fourth set signalled a return of the determined Wawrinka who’d fought his way to the final eight in New York, as he conceded just one game to send the match into a deciding fifth set.
In the fifth though it was Kukushkin who took the early break and skipped away to a 4-1 lead, as Wawrinka landed a miserable 33 per cent of first serves in the box in his opening two service games.
That break proved to be all the buffer Kukushkin needed as he took the 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory, and with it a Kazakhstan sweep of the opening day.
The Swiss had arrived in Kazakhstan seeking to secure a World Group berth for the third straight year - without the services of their top player, world No. 3 Roger Federer - but after a winless opening day, their chances of doing so have just become a whole lot slimmer.
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