Argentina has finally got what it wanted – a home Davis Cup final over the weekend of 21-23 November.
And it can also celebrate a new Davis Cup hero, the rising star Juan Martin del Potro.
Argentina has twice been in the final, but in both 1981 and 2006 it involved away trips to unfavourable surfaces in the northern hemisphere.
But following Juan-Martín del Potro’s 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 win over Russia's Igor Andreev in a live fifth rubber here in Buenos Aires, Argentina will host Spain in November’s final in what is likely to be the first outdoor final in seven years.
In Madrid, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal turned in a virtuoso performance to defeat American Andy Roddick 64 60 64 to secure Spain’s place in the Davis Cup by final.
It wasn’t that Roddick, ranked No. 8 in the world, played badly; it was just that, on this occasion, he was outclassed by Nadal, who played almost faultless tennis.
Today I play an almost perfect match and it is very, very exciting,” said Nadal after the win. “Today I played very well. I shocked myself with some of the winners I played, was near perfect tennis.”
It will be another few days before the venue is confirmed, but it is likely to be in Buenos Aires, and the front-runner is the 14,000-seater Parque Roca that has hosted all Argentina’s home ties since the start of 2006.
The only logistical issue is that the home nation will probably want to choose a moderately quick hard court to face Nadal and co – having waited so long for a first home final, Argentina will not want to welcome the world’s greatest claycourter on his favourite surface.
For complete results and other World Group playoffs results, go to the Davis Cup official website.
(Via Davis Cup official website)
Dinara Safina will move up to No. 3 in the world rankings after dominating Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 Sunday to win the Pan Pacific Open.
The victory gave the fourth-seeded Safina her fourth WTA singles title this season, tying her with No. 1 Serena Williams for the most this year.“I’ve played the best tennis this week I’ve ever played,” Safina said.
“It’s always nice to move up in the rankings and hopefully I can keep improving.”
Safina broke with a cross-court forehand from the baseline to go up 3-2 in the second set, and then broke for the third time in the final game, winning the match when the fifth-seeded Kuznetsova sent a forehand volley wide.
Safina has also won this year in Los Angeles, Montreal and Berlin.
She said pressuring Kuznetsova was the key on Sunday.
“I knew I had to keep the pressure on her from the start,” said Safina, who had seven aces.
“She is a good player and can put pressure on you so it was important for me to take my chances early.”
It was the 10th meeting between the two Russians, with Safina having won six of them.Kuznetsova, a former U.S. Open champion, was bidding for her first title in 2008.“It’s disappointing but I’ll try to be honest and positive,” Kuznetsova said.
“I came here after the clay court Fed Cup and really didn’t expect to get to the final so this isn’t a bad result for me.”
Kuznetsova said Safina can become the world’s top player.
“She has a chance to reach No. 1,” Kuznetsova said.
“She works hard and has a lot of energy. She has a bigger stroke than Jelena (Jankovic), and Serena (Williams) doesn’t play in that many tournaments these days.”
The doubles final, which followed after the singles final, pitted No.2-seeded duo Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur against unseeded team Petrova and Vania King.
And it was the underdog pairing of King and Petrova that prevailed, beating the two-time Grand Slam-winning team of Raymond and Stosur in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
King and Petrova won their first title as a team; it was King's fifth individual Tour doubles title and Petrova's 14th.
(Images by Yahoo! Sports, Sony Ericsson WTA website)
Vera Zvonareva (R) of Russia poses with Peng Shuai of China while holding their respective trophies after the final of the Guangzhou Open women's tennis tournament in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province.
World no.9 Vera Zvonareva won her seventh WTA Tour singles title Sunday, beating China’s Peng Shuai 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-2 in the Guangzhou International final.
The 24-year-old Russian won her second title of the year after winning the Prague Open in May. The top-seeded Zvonareva recently won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.
"I wasn't going for my shots enough in the first set; I think I was playing a bit too passively," Zvonareva said.
"She's a very good player and fights well, and she took advantage. But I had more experience behind my back and was able to turn the match around by going for my shots again. We had a tough match in our first time playing each other - if she keeps playing like this, she has a great future."
The Chinese contingent was very strong in Guangzhou, with nine - almost a third - of the 32 competitors in the main draw representing the home nation.
Peng made it the furthest and continued to show improved consistency in her week-to-week results, reaching her second Tour final in as many months, having finished runner-up at Forest Hills in August (to Lucie Safarova).
"I was really happy I could get to the final," Peng said.
"There were a lot of fans here, and whenever I was in a tough match they helped me fight through it. Every year this tournament gets better and I hope to be back here next year."
"She had a lot of expectation when she was younger," Zvonareva said of Peng.
"She is improving every year and this year she's playing very well. Chinese tennis is strong right now. People don't want to play in Russia because there are so many Russian players, but now people don't want to come to China either! And I think there are going to be even more young players coming up."
It was a Top 2 showdown in the doubles final, which followed the singles final, with No.1 seeds Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi taking on No.2 seeds Mariya Koryttseva and Tatiana Poutchek.
And it was Koryttseva and Poutchek that prevailed, taking the title by a match tie-break victory, 63 46 108. It was their first Tour doubles title as a team; they now each hold four Tour doubles titles individually.
(Image by AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
It's almost like a deja-vu at the David Cup semifinals.
After the Spanish team failed to win in the 3rd rubber set, the Argentine's team suffered the same fate in Buenos Aires too.The US dubs Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan as well as Russia's Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov crawled back in to the match and defeated Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez, and Argentines David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas respectively. Both matches ended in 5 freaking sets!
So no Davis Cup final as present for birthday boy Lopez who celebrates his 27th birthday yesterday.
Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn made the Argentina's pair cry.“We were on our way to victory, but we couldn’t pull through,” Mancini said.
But after a doubles match that lasted 3 hours, 37 minutes, Nalbandian might have to summon his reserves in the first reverse singles on Sunday. He’s scheduled to play the top Russian, sixth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko.
In the second reverse singles, Juan Martin del Potro is expected to meet Igor Andreev. Argentina is trying to avenge its loss to Russia in the 2006 finals.The winner of the semifinal will face either Spain or defending champion United States. Spain leads their semifinal 2-1.
No chest bump, but maybe backside bump for Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish.
Now it’s Andy Roddick’s turn.
With Spain leading 2-1 and looking to reach its sixth final, the pressure falls squarely on Roddick and his decisive match against Nadal in the first reverse singles rubber on Sunday.
“I’m not worried. (Andy) knows what he has to do, he’s been in this position many times before,” U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said.
The U.S. has won the Davis Cup 32 times, but has only rallied back from a 1-2 deficit five times.
A Roddick victory would make fifth-ranked David Ferrer’s match against Sam Querrey the decisive one.
For the other World Group playoffs results, go to the Davis Cup official website.
(Via Yahoo! Sports)
Argentina has twice been in the final, but in both 1981 and 2006 it involved away trips to unfavourable surfaces in the northern hemisphere.
In Madrid, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal turned in a virtuoso performance to defeat American Andy Roddick 64 60 64 to secure Spain’s place in the Davis Cup by final.
