Team Argentina defeats Team Kazakhstan; secures place in the semis – Davis Cup 2011
Hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the 2011 Davis Cup came crashing down for the Kazakhstani team when the Argentineans whitewashed their opponents in the two singles and one doubles rubbers of the quarterfinal round, played at the Parque Roca stadium in Buenos Aires. All of the matches were played on outdoor classic clay courts giving the Argentine team a competitive advantage.
The Argentinean team comprised of the some of the best clay court players. The singles matches were played by Juan Monaco and Juan Martin Del Potro and the doubles was played by Juan Ignacio Chela partnering Eduardo Schwank. The Kazakhstani team included Andrey Golubev, Mikhail Kukushkin, Yuriy Schukin and Evgeny Korolev.
The first rubber of the tie was played between Juan Monaco and Andrey Golubev. The Argentine made full use of his techniques and gave the team a breakthrough lead. The world No.43 did not have any problems beating his Kazakhstani opponent as he claimed a straight sets 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 win.
Following Monaco on court was his compatriot, Juan Martin Del Potro as he took on Mikhail Kukushkin. Juan Del Potro has been in superb form in this season. The former World No.4 has won all his matches in the Davis Cup played on clay court making this his fourth win. The match ended with Del Potro winning 3 sets straight 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. Argentina was 2-0 ahead after this win and had to win one more to qualify to the semi-final round.
Starting off at the doubles match between the two sides, Juan Ignacio Chela teamed up with Eduardo Schwank against Yuriy Schukin and Evgeny Korolev. Chela has appeared only once in a doubles match in the Davis Cup before this. However, Eduardo has played 3 doubles matches in the Davis Cup so far. Succeeding in winning two of the three doubles played, the world No.20 (doubles) was proved to be a profitable investment for the Argentine team.
The Kazakhs knew that they had little chance to win against the mighty Argentine team. Dominating in almost all of the 3 sets played, the two Argentines made no mistakes in winning all of the three sets. It seemed that the Kazakhstan might pull of the third set but failed. Argentina qualified for the semi-finals by winning the doubles match 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.
“At the end of the day everything was easier than expected. Definitely we’re looking forward to playing in the semi-finals. I think it will be against last year’s champions, Serbia, and we’ll see if we can give a surprise and get closer to what we want, that is to win the Davis Cup one day”, said Argentina’s captain.
Team Argentina moves on ahead to play defending champions, Team Serbia, in the semi-final. Serbia moves on ahead after doing away with Sweden with a 4-1 win.
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