27th WEEK – Davis Cup (QF)

Halmstad (indoor-hard): Sweden – Serbia 1:4
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If Swedes had appointed a team, which won the first round clash with Russia, they would have defeated Serbia deprived a slightly injured Djokovic (played only doubles). Unfortunately for the Scandinavians, “Pim-Pim” Johansson retired a few months ago, and Robin Soderling conceded that there’s no point to lose energy in a sentenced-to-defeat battle just before a tournament in Bastad where he plays regularly. In these circumstances, Janko Tipsarevic had a great opportunity to get the two vital points easily beating two much lower ranked opponents (Eleskovic – 355; Ryderstedt – 297).

Michael Ryderstedt – Viktor Troicki 3-6, 1-6, 7-6(6), 5-7
Ervin Eleskovic – Janko Tipsarevic 2-6, 0-1 ret.
Simon Aspelin/Robert Lindstedt – Novak Djokovic/Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5
Michael Ryderstedt – Janko Tipsarevic 2-6, 5-7, 3-6
Robert Lindstedt – Viktor Troicki 6-3, 4-6 ret.

Buenos Aires (clay): Argentina – Kazakhstan 5:0
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Argentina has a team strong enough to beat Kazakhstan on every surface, but on clay in Buenos Aires, the final solution could be only one – an overwhelming win for the “Juan” Argentinians. The Kazakhs couldn’t even play a tie-break during the first two days of the contest. A guy who helped the most in advancing to the quarterfinals, Andrey Golubev (10 consecutive singles wins in years 2009-11), now has lost 15 matches in a row!

Juan Monaco – Andrey Golubev 6-3, 6-0, 6-4
Juan Martin Del Potro – Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
Juan Ignacio Chela/Eduardo Schwank – Evgeny Korolev/Yuriy Schukin 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
Juan Ignacio Chela – Evgeny Korolev 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
Juan Monaco – Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-1

Austin (indoor hard): USA – Spain 1:3
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An encounter between Feliciano Lopez and Mardy Fish lasted 3 hours 57 minutes and was dominated by strong serves (Fish won in aces 34-30). The American had an open road to win it in five sets, but leading 1:0 (40-15) in the 5th set, made four silly errors in a row. Later on he saved two match points and had two ad-mini match points at 6:6 – Lopez fought them off with service winners to covert his third match point in the following game with a cross-court backhand. Lopez is the most experienced active player in long 5-setters (at least 14 games) counting singles and doubles #. A socks-less Andy Roddick wasted seven set points (!) in the 1st set of his match with David Ferrer, including a 5:4 (40-0) lead on serve, and finished the match with two consecutive double faults. Ferrer impressed with his great mental resistance also against Fish in a four-hour 4-set thriller; just like against Roddick, “Pics” was 3:5 in the 1st set, and two points away from the decider at 5:5 in the 4th set tie-break.

Mardy Fish – Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-8
Andy Roddick – David Ferrer 6-7(9), 5-7, 3-6
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan – Marcel Granollers/Fernando Verdasco 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Mardy Fish – David Ferrer 5-7, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-7(5)
Andy Roddick – Feliciano Lopez (not played)

Stuttgart (clay): Germany – France 1:4
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Florian Mayer could win the opening rubber 3x ‘6-4’, coming back from a break down in each set, unfortunately for the German fans, he lost to “love” his serve at 5:4 in the 3rd set; he had a mini-match point in the following game, but Gasquet saved it with a combination of cross-court backhand and high forehand volley. It was a turning point for the contest, since then Gasquet was winning service comfortably and finished the 3-hour 32-minute match with a backhand return. He waited four years to win another 5-setter, in the meantime lost five 5-setters, including four from 2-sets-to-0 lead. Also another rubber lasted more than three hours, however, two sets less were required to conclude it. Kohlschreiber lost two tie-break sets (Monfils leads 5-0 in their tie-breaks) which he could have won – led 6:5 (30-15) in the 1st set, and had a triple break point at 4:4 in the 2nd set. In my opinion, France has the strongest team nowadays, with four Top 20 players (Monfils, Gasquet, Tsonga, Simon) and three very solid doubles players (Llodra, Tsonga, Benneteau). Guy Forget has possibilities to customize the team in many configurations to his needs, actually France is a favorite to win against any team on any surface excluding Spain on clay with Nadal. Tsonga seems to be a key figure in the team… “I knew the tie was going to be close and difficult, even though we’ve won by Saturday night,” said Forget. “All the matches were really tight, and I’m really glad the French players took it so seriously and played with a lot of heart.” Germans haven’t won a first-day rubber against France since 1956 (five ties in that period).

Florian Mayer – Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 3-6
Philipp Kohlschreiber – Gael Monfils 6-7(3), 6-7(5), 4-6
Christopher Kas/Philipp Petzschner – Michael Llodra/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(4), 4-6, 4-6
Philipp Petzschner – Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(3), 6-7(5)

# Lopez’s longest (at least 14-game) fifth sets [7-5 record]:

Wimbledon 2002: K.Economidis 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 11-9
Wimbledon 2002: G.Canas 4-6, 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-5, 10-8
Wimbledon 2004: C.Saulnier 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(3), 8-6
Australian Open 2005: J.Johansson 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(2), 11-13
Davis Cup 2005: with R.Nadal – D.Bracciali/G.Galimberti 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-9
Wimbledon 2006: I.Ljubicic 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 9-11
Davis Cup 2007: with F.Verdasco – Y.Allegro/M.Chiudinelli 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(0), 6-1, 12-10
Davis Cup 2008: with F.Verdasco – P.Kohlschreiber/P.Petzschner 6-7(3), 7-6(1), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10
Wimbledon 2008: M.Baghdatis 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), 8-6
Australian Open 2009: G.Muller 3-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 14-16
Wimbledon 2009: K.Beck 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 8-10
Davis Cup 2011: M.Fish 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(2), 8-6

Newport (250)

John Isner [46] captured his second career-title, in the tournament where he had notched his ATP debut four years ago. In the final he dismissed around 40 cm shorter Olivier Rochus [74] – tie biggest height difference in the final of an ATP tournament in the Open era (there’s similar difference between Ivo Karlovic and Arnaud Clement as they met in the Nottingham final three years ago). Throughout the week, Isner didn’t lose a set, dropped just one service game (to Clement), served 76 aces (10, 11, 21, 12, 22) and won all four tie-breaks he played. He becomes the first top-seeded champion since the inauguration of the tournament in 1976.

Finals

S: (1)(WC)John Isner d. (6)Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6(6)
D: (WC)M.Ebden/R.Harrison d. (4)J.Brunstrom/A.Shamasdin 4-6, 6-3, [10-5]

Choker of the week:

Igor Kunitsyn, who served to win the first round match against Yeu-Tzuoo Wang at 5:4 in the 2nd set, and lost 13 points in a row. Wang won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.