Russia and Argentina Clash Yet Again
Moscow’s Olympic Stadium will host this week’s Davis Cup quarter-final between Russia and Argentina, set to begin on Friday. The two teams met in the 2006 final, when Marat Safin settled the tie in a four-set victory over Jose Acasuso.
Russia, unbeaten at home for 17 ties, also won the Davis Cup four years prior to Safin’s triumph, in 2002. This year’s Russian team will be led by veteran Nikolay Davydenko, its most successful player to date.
The Argentinian team are travelling to Moscow on the back of an impressive victory over Sweden in Stockholm in the previous round. The team has yet to lift the Cup trophy, but have come naggingly close, finishing as runners-up in 2008 and in 2006.
Ranked as World No. 6, Davydenko of the Russian team has played and defeated Argentina three times in his Davis Cup career. His 2010 season opened with wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, a tournament his two opponents will have seen as a warm-up for things to come in 2010.
At Grand Slam tournaments, Davydenko has reached the semi-finals twice in the French Open, and twice in the U.S. Open. This year, he reached the quarter-final of the Australian Open, where he was defeated by Federer.
With a total of 34 appearances, Mikhail Youzhny is an experienced Davis Cup player. Two of Russia’s victories against India in the previous round were delivered by Youzhny, who convincingly beat Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman in three straight sets.
Youzhny, known as a consistent all-round player, is currently ranked 14th in the world. He reached the quarter-final of this year’s French Open, losing there to Tomas Berdych.
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Teimuraz Gabashvili was responsible for Russia’s two defeats against India in the last round of the Cup. With no titles to his name as of yet, his fourth round exit in the 2010 French Open suggests that an improvement to his Grand Slam performances is underway.
In the third-round of that tournament, Gabashvili defeated American Andy Roddick in three straight sets.
Igor Kunitsyn, who partnered Gabashvili in his doubles defeat to Indian pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, was victorious in the doubles category when Russia last faced Argentina in 2008.
Argentina’s David Nalbandian will be likely to lead his less experienced teammates in the tie against Russia. He has 10 titles to his name, the last one claimed at the 2009 Medibank International in Sydney.
This season, however, Nalbandian has been plagued by injury problems that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon. The former World No. 3 will be hopeful that any such problems can be avoided in the upcoming quarter-final.
With 22 doubles wins and 9 losses this year, Horacio Zeballos will be looking to partner with Nalbandian for the doubles matches in Moscow. The pair defeated Robin Soderling and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden in Argentina’s last tie.
24 year-old Eduardo Schwank, born in Argentina, but with Swiss roots, is a talent to watch in the Argentinian squad. Coached by David Nalbandian’s brother Javier, Schwank has played in all four Grand Slams. The tie against Russia will give the youngster more valuable experience in international tennis.
At 23, Leonardo Mayer is the youngest player in the Argentinian team. His campaign in this year’s French Open ended in the third round, where he suffered defeat to Croatian Marin Cilic.
With a stronger tennis team on the whole, the Russian team stand as favourites to clinch the tie in Moscow. But drawing on their strong performance against Sweden in the last round, Argentina will do their utmost to prove the experts wrong.
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