[DC]Title Is Slipping Away From the Spaniards
04 Mar 2005 - National Tennnis Centre, Bratislava,
Slovak Republic - Gregor Sket - SVK v ESP
Spain's defence of the Davis Cup has got off to the worst possible start as
the Slovak Republic leads 2-0 after the first day of play in Bratislava.
The 2004 champions went 0-2 down in their first round tie, Karol Beck defeating
Feliciano Lopez 64 75 63 in the first rubber to give the hosts the early lead.
In the second rubber Dominik Hrbaty proved too strong for the Spanish freshman
Fernando Verdasco, the hometown hero winning 63 64 67(7) 63 to bring his
country a huge advantage heading into day two.
In the second match Hrbaty, a quarterfinalist at this year’s Australian Open,
lived up to the high expectations of the crowd with a strong performance
against Verdasco, who was playing his first singles Davis Cup match. Hrbaty
broke the Spaniard early in the first set and held his serve successfully to
win it 63.
In the second set Hrbaty went 1-4 down, but managed to come back from behind,
winning five consecutive games before taking the set. There were no breaks of
serve in the third set, which was decided in tiebreak. Hrbaty was two points
away from the match leading at 5-2, but the Spanish rookie managed to turn
the breaker around, winning 9-7.
The fourth set started with one break of serve on each side, but in the
eighth game Hrbaty broke once again. Even the medical treatment the Spaniard
took didn’t deter the Slovak as he finished up the match, and completed a
famous victory.
Dominik Hrbaty had a big smile over his face: “This was a completely different
story than in two previous matches I played against Fernando Verdasco. The
faster surface suits me better and I was able to take the advantage. I am
very happy with the way the first day went for us.”
The Spaniards came to the press conference with more serious faces. “Dominik
played very well the whole match. I tried my best but he was a better man on
the court,” said Verdasco.
The Spanish title defence now hangs by a thread and they need to win the
doubles rubbber on Saturday to keep themselves in this tie, and their dream
of retaining the trophy alive. For the time being, that task has been
assigned to Rafael Nadal and veteran Albert Costa, who are scheduled to face
Hrbaty and Michal Mertinak.
Slovak captain Miroslav Mecir was happy but cautious : “I didn’t expect
that we will be leading 2:0 after the first day. With the high quality of the
Spanish players I was even a little bit worried that it could be the other
way around. But fortunately my guys proved me wrong with their strong
performances and we are in the best possible possition after the first two
matches. But we are completely aware that we need three points and I haven't
forgotten the tie against Sweden in which we also took the lead and finally
lost. So the work is far from being done yet.”
“We were expecting that it is going to be all square after the first day.
But Slovaks showed very solid performances while my players played a little
bit bellow their standards. Especially Feliciano Lopez was not at his best
and besides that he had some bad luck in the second set where he had three
consecutive break points. Our chances are pretty bad after the first day but
we are still alive. I think we have a good chance to win doubles match on
Saturday and then we will see,” was the opinion of the Spanish captain
Jordi Arrese
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.162.60.175
Spain_PL 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
