Honours even in Moscow
Date published :
09 Jul 2010 - 10:58:02
Honours even in MoscowDavid Nalbandian was the hero of Friday’s opening singles of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group quarterfinal between Russia and Argentina. The Argentine pulled off one of his best performances in months against Nikolay Davydenko, to help his country end Friday’s opening singles level at one rubber all, after Mikhail Youzhny later went on to beat Leonardo Mayer.A sizeable crowd by Moscow standards for a Friday saw Davydenko and Nalbandian take to the court for the opening match-up. Both players had suffered from their fair share of injuries coming into this tie. Nalbandian was forced to miss Wimbledon, in part to help him prepare for this Davis Cup tie, while Davydenko had only just returned to competitive action after a wrist injury had seen him sit out the entire clay court season. We didn’t play our best tennis, as it’s difficult coming back from injuries and it’s not easy to come back and play Davis Cup,” Nalbandian commented.Nalbandian on the attackThe Argentine had seen his world ranking slip to No.153 during that time, and he didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, dropping his serve in just the third game. Even at such an early stage the Cordoba native’s tactics were clear to try and attack as much as possible, saying:I always believe in my game and at the beginning I saw he wasn’t too solid from the baseline and also with his serve too, so I managed to get things on my side.”His game plan would pay dividends almost immediately as he broke back in the very next game. Davydenko wasn’t helped by a an inability to win points on his first serve, while his baseline game, which is his bread and butter, was also misfiring. Davydenko’s missed opportunitiesFor the Russian, the match would turn out to be one of a number of missed opportunities. At the start of the second, Davydenko’s nerves would have been calmed as he moved a double break in front, but unfortunately he was unable to consolidate from a position of strength, as Nalbandian would go onto take the set on a tiebreak.For sure I had a chance in the second set, I have chances in the third set and I had a set point. I had many chances but didn’t realise them, and I lost,” said a dejected Davydenko. Nalbandian certainly took his and showed great resolve on a number of occasions, perhaps most notably to get himself back in the second set after going 3-0 down. He may have hit 65 unforced errors throughout the encounter, but vitally, the 28 year old was able to win the crucial points and claim a straight sets victory in just over two and three quarter hours, as his Russian opponent hit a crosscourt backhand long.I tried to play the important points better and we both had a lot of chances today, but I just performed a little better on them,” said a jubilant Nalbandian.Mayer faced with Youzhny unbeaten runThe world No. 6 was at a loss to explain his defeat, saying, I don’t think I played so bad, but I lost and in three sets, so it’s not such a good result for Russia and for me. I know I can play better, but today wasn’t my day. He played well, but I didn’t play that badly, but also not so good.”That put a little extra pressure on Mikhail Youzhny who was next on court to play Leonardo Mayer, but the Russian says he’s already become accustomed to playing in tough situations.Playing Davis Cup is not like playing ATP tournaments, as we are playing at home, and this is already pressure.”Mayer, who was playing in only his third ever Davis Cup singles match had to somehow try and find a way of ending the world No. 14’s five-year unbeaten Davis Cup singles home record. Vazquez happy with 1-1The Argentine didn’t get off to a great start and soon found himself staring into the abyss at two sets to love down in just over an hour, and Youzhny would have little trouble in sealing a straight-forward three-set victory.He played good, but perhaps he didn’t play his best match today, maybe he hasn’t played so many matches in the Davis Cup, as the Davis Cup is different,” commented Youzhny on his opponent’s performance.Attention now turns to Saturday’s doubles which should have a significant bearing on who will win this tie. But Argentina’s Davis Cup captain, Tito Vazquez, says he’s just happy to be going into the third rubber of this match-up on level terms.I said on Thursday that we would have settled for 1-1, so we’re still in the hunt, and will see what happens in tomorrow’s very important doubles match.”Related links> DavisCup.tv> Twitter> Tie information> Audio interviews> Scorecards & stats> Davydenko opens against Nalbandian> Kunitsyn ready for Argentina test> ’I will play’ - DavydenkoRelated websites> Russian Tennis Federation> Asociacion Argentina de Tenis Related Audio Interview with Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) - Friday Interview with David Nalbandian (ARG) - Friday Interview with Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) - Friday Interview with Argentine Captain Tito Vazquez - Friday If you cannot hear the audio, then please update your media player by following one of the links above.
