Nadal couldn’t have played in the final due to injury
Points won by each set: [ 31-21, 36-40, 25-35, 31-21, 28-18 ]
Points won directly on serve:
28 % Verdasco – 41 of 144
28 % Acasuso – 40 of 142
In the entire history, Acasuso [48] is rather an obscure figure, but he shared for a few years a record of the longest tie-break, and what’s more important, he lost two decisive Davis Cup rubbers in the finals – they are separated by two years and their stories are different; in 2006 he lost the 5th rubber to Russia (Marat Safin) while in 2008 he just could keep the Argentinian hopes still alive, however, in a potential decisive rubber Nalbandian should have defeated Feliciano Lopez being supported by the home crowd… You never know, anyway Acasuso (he replaced the injured J.M. Del Potro) finished in tears while Verdasco [16, replaced Ferrer] jumped to a new level following the biggest win of his career. Since the beginning of the 2nd set the match was conducted in a slow pace, it slowed down in the last two sets when Acasuso was struggling with abdominal muscles. The Spaniard led 3:2* in the 4th set when two successive ‘deuce’ games occurred, he won them both… one-way traffic ever since. He finished the 3-hour 56-minute encounter with a forehand down the line clean winner and enjoyed the biggest success of his career in tears lying on the court covered by his teammates.
Serve & volley: Verdasco 0, Acasuso 1/2
SPAIN d. ARGENTINA 3-1 at Estadio Islas Malvinas, Mar del Plata (Argentina): Hard (Indoor)
David Nalbandian (ARG) d. David Ferrer (ESP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) d. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 6-3
Feliciano Lopez / Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Agustin Calleri / David Nalbandian (ARG) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-3
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Jose Acasuso (ARG) 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
David Nalbandian (ARG) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP) unp.
From left: F.Lopez, M.Granollers, S.Ventura (alternate), D.Ferrer and F.Verdasco… E.Sanchez (captain)
Nadal couldn’t have played in the final due to injury
Points won by each set: [ 31-21, 36-40, 25-35, 31-21, 28-18 ]
Points won directly on serve:
28 % Verdasco – 41 of 144
28 % Acasuso – 40 of 142
In the entire history, Acasuso [48] is rather an obscure figure, but he shared for a few years a record of the longest tie-break, and what’s more important, he lost two decisive Davis Cup rubbers in the finals – they are separated by two years and their stories are different; in 2006 he lost the 5th rubber to Russia (Marat Safin) while in 2008 he just could keep the Argentinian hopes still alive, however, in a potential decisive rubber Nalbandian should have defeated Feliciano Lopez being supported by the home crowd… You never know, anyway Acasuso (he replaced the injured J.M. Del Potro) finished in tears while Verdasco [16, replaced Ferrer] jumped to a new level following the biggest win of his career. Since the beginning of the 2nd set the match was conducted in a slow pace, it slowed down in the last two sets when Acasuso was struggling with abdominal muscles. The Spaniard led 3:2* in the 4th set when two successive ‘deuce’ games occurred, he won them both… one-way traffic ever since. He finished the 3-hour 56-minute encounter with a forehand down the line clean winner and enjoyed the biggest success of his career in tears lying on the court covered by his teammates.
Serve & volley: Verdasco 0, Acasuso 1/2
SPAIN d. ARGENTINA 3-1 at Estadio Islas Malvinas, Mar del Plata (Argentina): Hard (Indoor)
David Nalbandian (ARG) d. David Ferrer (ESP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) d. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 6-3
Feliciano Lopez / Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Agustin Calleri / David Nalbandian (ARG) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-3
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Jose Acasuso (ARG) 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
David Nalbandian (ARG) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP) unp.
From left: F.Lopez, M.Granollers, S.Ventura (alternate), D.Ferrer and F.Verdasco… E.Sanchez (captain)
Spain’s route to the title:
Peru 5-0, Germany 4-1, USA 4-1, Argentina 3-1
Points for the team:
3 – Rafael Nadal, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco
2 – David Ferrer
1.5 – Nicolas Almagro, Tommy Robredo