The end of the long and winding Davis Cup road is finally in sight. An intriguing France Russia final is in the cards after last weekend?s dramatic semifinal action.
France foils USA on the clay
The aging U.S. Open finalists Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were missing from the American squad. However, judging by the ATP?s Race Rankings, the USA was still in good shape: Patrick McEnroe?s singles players, Andy Roddick and James Blake, have been experiencing more success this season than their French counterparts Sébastien Grosjean and Arnaud Clément.
However, the French had some powerful arguments on their side. First, the experience of their players, particularly in big Davis Cup matches. Second, the home crowd. And third, the European clay, on which the French (especially Grosjean) have been much more successful. The biggest problem for French in the lead-up was a back injury suffered by Grosjean, that raised the possibility that 20-year-old rising star Paul-Henri Mathieu might be thrown into the pressure-cooker. Grosjean did play in the end, and
play brilliantly, winning his two matches and providing the winning point on Sunday.
In some uncharacteristically blunt pre-match comments, France?s captain Guy Forget, who usually avoids inflammatory statements, suggested that American number one Roddick may in fact be the weak link. "Emotionally, Roddick can drop out of a match for no apparent reason. Beyond the fact that he loses his composure, he sometimes doesn?t play smart, his movement is heavy, his backhand can be improved, he has a mediocre volley for a top level player, and he lacks experience.? Anything else you?d like to add,
Guy?
As it turned out, Forget was not far off the mark. Roddick lost both of his singles matches against Arnaud Clément and Sébastien Grosjean, the latter match giving France the winning point. Although Roddick fought hard and took a set in each match, his inability to conclude points at the net and tendency to press and overhit proved fatal against his smaller but Davis Cup-tested opponents. Note that the other power-hitting young American, James Blake, had similarly lost to Grosjean in four sets on the openi
ng day.
The only American point of the weekend came in the doubles, a courageous, come-from-behind 2-6, 7-6, 2-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4
win by Blake and Todd Martin over Mickael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro. After the tie, captain Forget recognized that the doubles point will be more crucial in the final -- ?we are the underdogs?, claimed the captain -- and expressed concern about the ups and downs displayed by his pair in their loss to the Americans.
Safin sparks Russia past Argentina
The semifinal with the lower profile -- except in Russia and Argentina -- was this one. Russia won, like France clinching the tie 3-1 with a win in the first reverse singles rubber.
Russian veteran Yevgeny Kafelnikov suffered a dislocated finger on his left hand the week before the DC showdown, in Tashkent (a tournament he nonetheless won). But a bigger concern was the scrambled brain of former number one Marat Safin, who is muddled and not playing up to his standard on the tour. The Argentine press gleefully referred to Marat as Romperraquetas -- racquet-breaker -- noting that the tempestuous Russian had already broken 70 of his implements this year.
As for the Argentines, they were dealing with several handicaps of their own. Not only did they have to play on a fast indoor surface and on the road, they were also without the excellent Guillermo Cańas, sidelined with a fractured wrist. Happily for the Argentines, the nation has seven players in the top 50, and three of them -- David Nalbandian, Juan Ignacio Chela and Gastón Gaudio -- were available for duty, as well as doubles specialist Lucas Arnold. The Argentines? best strategy appeared to be to ch
ip away with their depth at Kafelnikov and Safin, who were expected to see a potentially exhausting weekend in both singles and doubles.
Safin opened the proceedings with an unrecognizably rock-solid performance in a routine victory over Chela. In the second rubber, the Argentines appeared to have all but levelled the tie when, in the fifth set of his match with Kafelnikov, Gaudio held a 5-2 lead with two match points on his serve. Gaudio struck what he thought was a winning forehand on his second match point, but the ball was ruled out. A furious Gaudio never recovered, and the motivated Kafelnikov stormed back to take six of the last se
ven games to win the marathon, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 8-6.
You want marathons? We hadn?t seen anything yet! In the Saturday doubles, Argentines Lucas Arnold and David Nalbandian battled Kafelnikov and Safin for more than six hours before winning one of the longest matches in Davis Cup history, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 19-17. Argentina was not only still alive: if the strategy was to wear out the Russian stars, one couldn?t ask for more.
But the Argentine captain opted to replace Gaudio for the first reverse singles against Safin with Nalbandian, despite the fast that David had been on court for six hours in the doubles the day before. ?Honestly,? commented Safin, ?I wasn?t expecting to play Nalbandian, especially since I had one win and two losses against Gaudio.? According to Argentine captain Alejandro Gattiker, Gaudio was troubled by a leg injury in practice before the match. Nalbandian failed to provide the magic, and Safin played t
he hero, pulling away in the final stages to subdue the Wimbledon finalist, 7-6, 6-7, 6-0, 6-3. The merry Russians tossed Marat in the air, as they had clinched a berth in the final, to be played in France starting November 29.
The final will be the first time this year that Russia will have played a Davis Cup tie on the road, and again, they will match their two stars against a deeper squad. One point of intrigue is whether Fabrice Santoro, who is the pillar of France?s doubles duo, will see singles action. Santoro has had success against Safin over the years, winning six of their seven confrontations. The always quotable Safin once remarked of the wily little Frenchman, ?I look at him and I forget how to play tennis.?