Fish stuns Wawrinka as USA edge ahead in Davis Cup
Date published :
10 Feb 2012 - 19:16:43
Mardy Fish fought back from two sets to one down to beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 and give the United States a 1-0 lead over Switzerland in their Davis Cup World Group opener on Friday.
It was the fifth time in his last six Davis Cup appearances that American number one Fish, who spent four and a half hours on court, had played five sets.
"There's something special about the Davis Cup. You just never give up," said Fish.
"I feel pretty tired. But I lost a couple of long ones in Austin last year (against Spain), and that feels so bad I just needed to win this one."
Fish's win in Fribourg was crucial for 32-time champions America as world number three Roger Federer, playing a first round tie for the first time in eight years, was due on court later Friday to tackle John Isner.
Defending champions Spain, who were playing without Rafael Nadal, saw veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero claw out a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin in the tie with World Group debutants Kazakhstan in Oviedo.
Nadal is skipping the tournament to concentrate on the Grand Slams as well as the defence of his Olympic title.
World number one Novak Djokovic is also absent from 2010 champions Serbia's tie in Nis against Sweden.
But he wasn't missed on the first day as Janko Tipsarevic beat Filip Prpic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and Viktor Troicki saw off Michael Ryderstedt 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 for a 2-0 lead.
World number nine Tipsarevic had no problems against an opponent ranked 1,417 places below him while Ryderstedt, who replaced long-term illness victim Robin Soderling, at least took a set off Troicki.
In Bamberg, Argentina put a foot in the quarter-finals when they opened a 2-0 lead against Germany.
Last year's beaten finalists saw Juan Monaco beat Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 before David Nalbandian battled back to defeat Florian Mayer 2-6, 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).
In Kobe, Ivo Karlovic fired 18 aces to claim a straightforward 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Australian Open quarter-finalist Kei Nishikori as Croatia pulled level at 1-1 with Japan who are back in the World Group for the first time in 26 years.
Earlier, Japanese number two Go Soeda caused a stir when he stormed back from two sets down to beat Ivan Dodig 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 in four hours and five minutes.
"I can't believe that I actually won. I didn't feel that there was a big difference with my opponent. It was a result of my usual hard work. It paid off," said Soeda, ranked 90th against Dodig's 55th.
At Wiener Neustadt, Jurgen Melzer gave Austria a 1-0 lead over Russia thanks to a 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Igor Kunitsyn.
In other ties Friday, Italy were taking on the Czech Republic in Ostrava while Canada were facing France in Vancouver.
