This week attention turns from the individual battles on the ATP Tour to the collective battles in Davis Cup competition. The World Group is at its quarter-final stage, with one match in particular possibly holding the key to the destination of the Davis Cup in 2007. With the squads already in place, here is a preview of this week’s four quarter-finals, with the draw to follow in the coming days.
Russia v France
The 2006 champions meet France in the Davis Cup for the third successive year and the Russians will expect to continue their recent dominance over France. The most memorable of their recent meetings took place in Paris during the 2002 final; where Mikhail Youzhny recovered from two sets down to win Russia’s first Davis Cup title against Paul-Henri Mathieu, a defeat that many believe Mathieu has never truly recovered from.
Russia are a formidable outfit, boasting a squad of Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev, and having already overcome a difficult obstacle in the form of Chile away from him, Russia will be confident of continuing their excellent home record of 12 successive victories (dating back to the Davis Cup final 2005 v USA).
The French come into the quarter-final off the back of a comfortable home success against Romania. France have made one change to their squad from that victory, with Paul-Henri Mathieu replacing Sebastien Grosjean. The rest of the squad consists of Richard Gasquet, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. France have a good recent away record in Davis Cup with 7 victories in the last 10 away ties, however that good run is unlikely to continue in Russia.
The Russians have chosen to play indoors on clay and have the luxury of being able to excel as a group on any surface. The French are no strangers to clay, after all the Mecca of clay court tennis resides in France (Roland Garros). Russia could make a case for any four of their players to be involved in singles action at some point over the weekend, whereas the French will be reliant on Richard Gasquet to lead their singles charge.
The edge in the doubles lies with the French; however the overwhelming strength of the Russians in the four singles battles is liable to make that a moot point. Anything other than a Russian victory will be shock despite the fact that France are no pushovers.
Belgium v Germany
In order to progress to the semi-finals, Belgium will have to achieve something in Davis Cup that they never have before, beat Germany. Seven previous encounters have proved fruitless for the Belgians and they have opted to play indoors on clay in the hope of reversing that trend. Belgium have not been to the last four of the Davis Cup since 1999 and it has been an even longer wait for Germany (1995). Both nations recorded home victories in the first round over Australia and Croatia respectively. The Belgian side is led by Olivier Rochus and backed up by Kristof Vliegen, Christophe Rochus (Olivier’s brother) and Dick Norman. German hopes lay firmly at the door of Tommy Haas who up until the recent the recent Miami Masters had been in excellent form, including the first round of Davis Cup where he recorded two crucial singles victories over Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic. Haas is joined by Florian Mayer, Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann.
As in the first round, Germany will rely on Tommy Haas to do the bulk of the work and he holds a 2-0 record versus Olivier Rochus and a 1-0 record against Kristof Vliegen. The victory over Vliegen was on clay, whereas the two wins over Rochus were on hard court. Vliegen proved to be the Belgian hero in the first round with his 5th rubber win against Lleyton Hewitt, the scenes of joy at the conclusion of the match painted a picture of how Davis Cup can elevate the level of players who may not be used to producing such performances on the tour week to week.
Tommy Haas is likely to be the defining factor in the tie and should he be able to produce the high level of performance that he has in recent times, then Germany should find a way to move onto their first Davis Cup semi-final in 12 years.
USA v Spain
This meeting has lost some of its lustre with the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal from the Spanish squad. The timing of the withdrawal was perhaps not the best as later that same evening; Nadal produced an excellent display against one of the up and coming stars of the ATP Tour, Juan-Martin del Potro. It has led to questions about just how committed Nadal is to the Davis Cup cause at present; a competition he has always claimed is close to his heart. The reason for his absence is a precautionary one rather than a recently picked up injury, and with a busy clay court season ahead in the coming weeks, certainly there is validity in the caution. However, that may not satisfy all Spanish supporters who were hoping to see Nadal lead their Davis Cup challenge in 2007.
His absence makes further strengthens the chances of the Americans to progress, who already would have been expectant even with Nadal’s inclusion. The tie will be played indoors on hard court, the speed of which is liable to cause a great deal of trouble for the Spaniards. The USA comes into the tie with a very settled squad of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers. It will be the 6th successive tie that the Americans have been able to call on the same squad line up. The Spanish come to America with David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.
Without Nadal, Spain still boast a good squad, but as with the French in Russia it’s unlikely that they will have enough firepower to take out the Americans. The USA have not won the Davis Cup since Pete Sampras led them to victory in Russia in 1995, and their continued progress in the competition will be based largely on the outcome of the quarter-final between Sweden and Argentina.
Both Andy Roddick and James Blake hold winning head to head records over David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo, and with the doubles edge with the Americans in the form of the Bryan brothers who are 10-1 in Davis Cup doubles action, the USA are rightly seen as strong favourites to advance further in the competition.
Sweden v Argentina
The destination of this year’s Davis Cup could well be decided based on the outcome of this tie, should Argentina progress it is highly likely they will meet the USA in Argentina and also have the possibility of playing the final at home, where Argentina are unbeaten since 1998. However, before Argentina can look ahead to home draws late in the competition they will first have to overcome Sweden away on what is sure to be a very fast playing court surface.
Argentine captain, Alberto Mancini, has already commented that a good first serve on this court effectively ends the point, so don’t expect to see too many or any long rallies in Sweden this weekend. Argentina are boosted by the return of David Nalbandian, the Argentine who has carried his side for a large part of the past two years missed the first round needing time off to rest his aching limbs following a late finish the 2006 season and with no sustained preparation for the 2007 season. Argentina can also count on the services of Guillermo Cañas, fresh off an appearance in the Miami Masters final and having quickly elevated himself into the top 30 after returning from suspension last season. The squad also consists of young starlet Juan-Martin del Potro and doubles specialist Sebastian Prieto.
Sweden will be looking for a measure of revenge having suffered a 5-0 loss in Argentina last year and playing on a surface more suited to their skills they will be confident of their chances to progress further in the competition. A big loss for Sweden is their inability to call on Joachim Johansson due to injury, the big serving Swede would have caused Argentina all kinds of problems on this court. Led by Mats Wilander, the Swedish team comprises of Robin Soderling, Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt.
The respective head to heads lie in Argentina’s favour, with Nalbandian holding a 3-1 lead over Soderling and a 1-1 tie with Johansson. Cañas has a 2-0 lead over Johansson while having never met Soderling. However, there is a limit to how much can be read into these previous meetings as not one of them was on a surface as speedy as the carpet surface will be in Sweden. With Cañas possibly being somewhat fatigued after playing a lot of matches in the past few weeks at Indian Wells and Miami, it remains to be seen how great a part Juan-Martin del Potro will have to play in proceedings.
Russia v France
The 2006 champions meet France in the Davis Cup for the third successive year and the Russians will expect to continue their recent dominance over France. The most memorable of their recent meetings took place in Paris during the 2002 final; where Mikhail Youzhny recovered from two sets down to win Russia’s first Davis Cup title against Paul-Henri Mathieu, a defeat that many believe Mathieu has never truly recovered from.
Russia are a formidable outfit, boasting a squad of Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev, and having already overcome a difficult obstacle in the form of Chile away from him, Russia will be confident of continuing their excellent home record of 12 successive victories (dating back to the Davis Cup final 2005 v USA).
The French come into the quarter-final off the back of a comfortable home success against Romania. France have made one change to their squad from that victory, with Paul-Henri Mathieu replacing Sebastien Grosjean. The rest of the squad consists of Richard Gasquet, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. France have a good recent away record in Davis Cup with 7 victories in the last 10 away ties, however that good run is unlikely to continue in Russia.
The Russians have chosen to play indoors on clay and have the luxury of being able to excel as a group on any surface. The French are no strangers to clay, after all the Mecca of clay court tennis resides in France (Roland Garros). Russia could make a case for any four of their players to be involved in singles action at some point over the weekend, whereas the French will be reliant on Richard Gasquet to lead their singles charge.
The edge in the doubles lies with the French; however the overwhelming strength of the Russians in the four singles battles is liable to make that a moot point. Anything other than a Russian victory will be shock despite the fact that France are no pushovers.
Belgium v Germany
In order to progress to the semi-finals, Belgium will have to achieve something in Davis Cup that they never have before, beat Germany. Seven previous encounters have proved fruitless for the Belgians and they have opted to play indoors on clay in the hope of reversing that trend. Belgium have not been to the last four of the Davis Cup since 1999 and it has been an even longer wait for Germany (1995). Both nations recorded home victories in the first round over Australia and Croatia respectively. The Belgian side is led by Olivier Rochus and backed up by Kristof Vliegen, Christophe Rochus (Olivier’s brother) and Dick Norman. German hopes lay firmly at the door of Tommy Haas who up until the recent the recent Miami Masters had been in excellent form, including the first round of Davis Cup where he recorded two crucial singles victories over Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic. Haas is joined by Florian Mayer, Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann.
As in the first round, Germany will rely on Tommy Haas to do the bulk of the work and he holds a 2-0 record versus Olivier Rochus and a 1-0 record against Kristof Vliegen. The victory over Vliegen was on clay, whereas the two wins over Rochus were on hard court. Vliegen proved to be the Belgian hero in the first round with his 5th rubber win against Lleyton Hewitt, the scenes of joy at the conclusion of the match painted a picture of how Davis Cup can elevate the level of players who may not be used to producing such performances on the tour week to week.
Tommy Haas is likely to be the defining factor in the tie and should he be able to produce the high level of performance that he has in recent times, then Germany should find a way to move onto their first Davis Cup semi-final in 12 years.
USA v Spain
This meeting has lost some of its lustre with the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal from the Spanish squad. The timing of the withdrawal was perhaps not the best as later that same evening; Nadal produced an excellent display against one of the up and coming stars of the ATP Tour, Juan-Martin del Potro. It has led to questions about just how committed Nadal is to the Davis Cup cause at present; a competition he has always claimed is close to his heart. The reason for his absence is a precautionary one rather than a recently picked up injury, and with a busy clay court season ahead in the coming weeks, certainly there is validity in the caution. However, that may not satisfy all Spanish supporters who were hoping to see Nadal lead their Davis Cup challenge in 2007.
His absence makes further strengthens the chances of the Americans to progress, who already would have been expectant even with Nadal’s inclusion. The tie will be played indoors on hard court, the speed of which is liable to cause a great deal of trouble for the Spaniards. The USA comes into the tie with a very settled squad of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers. It will be the 6th successive tie that the Americans have been able to call on the same squad line up. The Spanish come to America with David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.
Without Nadal, Spain still boast a good squad, but as with the French in Russia it’s unlikely that they will have enough firepower to take out the Americans. The USA have not won the Davis Cup since Pete Sampras led them to victory in Russia in 1995, and their continued progress in the competition will be based largely on the outcome of the quarter-final between Sweden and Argentina.
Both Andy Roddick and James Blake hold winning head to head records over David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo, and with the doubles edge with the Americans in the form of the Bryan brothers who are 10-1 in Davis Cup doubles action, the USA are rightly seen as strong favourites to advance further in the competition.
Sweden v Argentina
The destination of this year’s Davis Cup could well be decided based on the outcome of this tie, should Argentina progress it is highly likely they will meet the USA in Argentina and also have the possibility of playing the final at home, where Argentina are unbeaten since 1998. However, before Argentina can look ahead to home draws late in the competition they will first have to overcome Sweden away on what is sure to be a very fast playing court surface.
Argentine captain, Alberto Mancini, has already commented that a good first serve on this court effectively ends the point, so don’t expect to see too many or any long rallies in Sweden this weekend. Argentina are boosted by the return of David Nalbandian, the Argentine who has carried his side for a large part of the past two years missed the first round needing time off to rest his aching limbs following a late finish the 2006 season and with no sustained preparation for the 2007 season. Argentina can also count on the services of Guillermo Cañas, fresh off an appearance in the Miami Masters final and having quickly elevated himself into the top 30 after returning from suspension last season. The squad also consists of young starlet Juan-Martin del Potro and doubles specialist Sebastian Prieto.
Sweden will be looking for a measure of revenge having suffered a 5-0 loss in Argentina last year and playing on a surface more suited to their skills they will be confident of their chances to progress further in the competition. A big loss for Sweden is their inability to call on Joachim Johansson due to injury, the big serving Swede would have caused Argentina all kinds of problems on this court. Led by Mats Wilander, the Swedish team comprises of Robin Soderling, Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt.
The respective head to heads lie in Argentina’s favour, with Nalbandian holding a 3-1 lead over Soderling and a 1-1 tie with Johansson. Cañas has a 2-0 lead over Johansson while having never met Soderling. However, there is a limit to how much can be read into these previous meetings as not one of them was on a surface as speedy as the carpet surface will be in Sweden. With Cañas possibly being somewhat fatigued after playing a lot of matches in the past few weeks at Indian Wells and Miami, it remains to be seen how great a part Juan-Martin del Potro will have to play in proceedings.
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