FRANCE, SPAIN FAVORED IN WEEKEND TIES

Davis Cup barn burners: Aussies vs. Sweden &
the Russia-Argentina grudge match

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Of the four Davis Cup ties to be contested starting Friday, the matchup between traditional powerhouses Australia and Sweden in Malmo, Sweden is the most intriguing, while the potential marathon rematch between defending champ Russia and upstart Argentina in Buenos Aires should be the most blood curdling.

With No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, the fats rising Mark Philippoussis and doubles legend Todd Woodbridge leading the way, Australia would be a significant favorite if the match was played Down Under, but even though the Swedes are injury riddled, they always play well at home and will be difficult to maul in Malmo.

However, Swedish captain Mats Wilander will have to coach his cool head off, because his best player, '02 Aussie Open champ Thomas Johansson is out with a knee injury, his most promising youngest player, Andreas Vinciguerra, is also out with a knee injury. His two of his potential starters – Magnus Norman and Thomas Enqvist – have been injured more times than Bjorn Borg won major titles. It wouldn't be surprising to see now doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman get the call in singles.

Wilander has been forced to call upon 21-year-old Joachim Johansson as a back-up who, according to Reuters, is dating Hewitt's sister Jaslyn. That is his the most noteworthy tennis-related achievement to date.

Australia has won Davis Cup 27 times while Sweden has taken seven titles. The last time the two teams met, in 2001, Hewitt and the now-retired Patrick Rafter led Australia to a 4-1 win.

As he showed in taking out Andre Agassi in Scottsdale in early March, Enqvist is more than capable of thundering past top-ranked foes. But Hewitt plays a much different style than Agassi and will make the big Swede play a lot more balls. However, Enqvist certainly has the weaponry to stop the erratic Philippoussis.

Norman has progressed some since multiple surgeries, but he hasn't yet shown the capability of wearing down the likes of Hewitt of controlling the big-stroking Philippoussis. In his salad days, Bjorkman was a very creative all-courter, but has slowed down significantly and has lost a lot of confidence in singles.

Because neither Enqvist or Norman are very good doubles players, you have to give Woodbridge/Wayne Arthurs the edge in doubles.

The best that Sweden can hope for is that its team members flip Philippoussis in both his singles matches and that Bjorkman can find a way to spread some of his doubles magic to his partner. This tie has 3-2 written all over it.

Russia vs. Argentina

Mikhail Youzhny

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

Just six months ago, Russia and Argentina faced off indoors in Moscow and the northerners (see Marat Safin) overpowered put-upon southerners.

It wasn't a pleasant experience for the Argentine David Nalbandian, who after teaming with Lucas Arnold for a remarkable 19-17 in the fifth set win over Safin/Yevgeny Kafelinkov, was wasted in the last two sets of his tie-clinching five-set loss to Safin.

Neither was the tie a walk in the park for Argentine journalists, who claim they were harassed by Russian security, and weren't provided with proper phone lines or transportation.

Are the Argentines favored in this tie? Certainly, because Safin is battling injuries, Kafelinkov has lost interest in singles and Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko are not experts on Latin American clay.

But that doesn't mean that defending champ Russia will lose this tie because young Argentines Nalbandian, Gaston Gaudio and Mariano Zabaleta will be under tremendous pressure at home. Argentina could really use nail-tough Guillermo Canas in this contest, but he's out until the summer with an injury. This tie also smells like a 3-2 dogfight.

France vs. Switzerland
The small yet wealthy nation of Federer (read: Switzerland) will face off against powerful France in Toulouse, France and give how amazing Roger the Dodger has been in Davis Cup, an upset is not beyond the realm of possibility. However, that will likely mean that Federer will have to win both his singles matches against Sebastien Grosjean and Nicolas Escude and then partner with the unimpressive Georges Bastl or Ivo Heuberger in doubles to take down the mighty team of Fabrice Santoro/Michael Llodra.

Swiss No. 2 Michel Kratochvil is out with an injury. It sounds like Swiss captain Marc Rosset isn't playing well enough to urge himself out retirement, so it will be up to Federer to shoulder the load one again.

Spain vs. Croatia
The last tie to be contested will be in Valencia on clay between Spain and Croatia, which will likely be a 5-0 wipeout, given that neither Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic have the groundstrokes to contend with Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya, Albert Costa and Alex Corretja on clay.

The semifinal picks: France to face Australia and Spain to play Argentina.