| Davis
Cup Quarters & Amelia ISLAND REPORT
Argentines collapse, Fed flies, Dutch
dying on dirt
JHH vs. Serena could occur
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
|
| Federer is a Davis Cup monster. |
While the rain played havoc with
Mardy Fish and Jonas Bjorkman’s opening Davis Cup tie in
Delray Beach, Fla. (as of this writing Bjorkman owned a two sets
to one lead and they were locked at 2-2 in the fourth), the squads
from Spain and Belarus charged to 2-0 leads in their Davis Cup
quarterfinals.
There were no surprises in Lausanne, as Switzerland and France
were tied at 1-1 after No. 1 Roger Federer embarrassed Nicolas
Escudé 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 and Arnaud Clement crushed the underwhelming
Ivo Heuberger 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. That tie will be won or lost on Saturday,
when Federer/Yves Allegro face Escude/Michael Llodra. Both Federer
and Clement are good to win their singles matches, so it’s
essentially down to the dubs. Federer has done a lot of work trying
to boost Allegro’s confidence over the past couple months.
We’ll see if Club Fed can coach as well as he can play.
The ease with which Belarussians Vladimir Voltchkov and Max Mirnyi
stomped the Argentines is a clear indication of the quickness
of the court and how mentally unprepared Agustin Calleri and Guillermo
Cañas were to play. Argentine Captain Gustavo Luza could
have sent Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian out in casts and
they would still have put up better fight that their compatriots.
VV smoked Calleri 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 while MM blew out Cañas
6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Look for Belarus to grab the shutout on Saturday.
"The main factor of today's success is that we played in
our native land," Mirnyi told Daviscup.com. "The surface
and the balls, which we have chosen, helped us. We were also helped
very much by the support of the Belarussian spectators. Besides
that both Argentine players looked very angry. It helped us too."
Spain had little trouble playing in a converted bullring in Palma
on dirt against the Dutch as Carlos Moya closed out Dutchman Martin
Verkerk 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 and Juan Carlos Ferrero returned to play
with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Raemon Sluiter. But Spanish
kids Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo should have a mightier struggle
against John Van Lottum and Verkerk in Saturday's doubles.
Justine vS. Serena a real Possibility
Despite battling what must be here fourth virus over the past
six months, Justine Henin-Hardenne has posted a series of gutsy
wins at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island and
now is just one match away from what could be a very enticing
final against Serena Williams. Henin-Hardenne has now reached
at least the semis in every tournament she’s played during
the past year and improved her season record to 25-1, including
four titles.
In the semis, she'll take on Amelie Mauresmo, whose has had a
nice first tournament back since injuring her back in February.
On Friday, she outfought Silvia Farina Elia 6-4, 6-3. Mauresmo
has taken down Henin-Hardenne before, but you have to give the
Belgian the edge over the somewhat rusty Frenchwoman.
Lindsay Davenport’s two-week break obviously helped her
conditioning as on Friday, she completed her third-round match
by muscling past Alicia Molik 6-4, 7-5 and then stomped the steady
Paola Suarez 6-4, 6-1. LD became the fourth woman to reach $17
million in career earnings, after Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova
and Martina Hingis. Hubby Jon Leach must be very pleased.
Davenport will taker on the winner of the Williams/Nadia Petrova
quarter. Recall that Petrova knocked off Jen Capriati at Roland
Garros last year and just reached the NASDAQ-100 Open semis. She
also owns the fastest serve at the B&L, nailing a 118-mph
heater. That’s impressive stuff in humid conditionsy. Serena,
who was pushed by free-swinging Karoline Sprem in their quarter,
could be in for trouble in Petrova finds her nerve, but there’s
a rare feat for the occasionally negative Nadia.
Even if Serena survives, she’ll have her toughest struggle
since coming back at the NASDAQ when she takes on old rival LD. |
