Davydenko cancels out France's lead

Davydenko cancels out France's lead

Shamil Tarpischev's gamble in playing Nikolay Davydenko paid off, as the Russian No 1 in the absence of Marat Safin beat France's Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets to level the Russia v France quarterfinal at 1-1 after the first day.Davydenko had played just two matches since getting to the French Open semifinals in early June, both resulting in retirements due to an inflammation of his wrist. But both the wrist and his legs held up under the pressure of having to make good a 0-1 deficit, Davydenko beating Mathieu 75 62 75 after receiving treatment for mild thigh cramps early in the third set.The result cancelled out Richard Gasquet's impressive Davis Cup by BNP Paribas debut, the 19-year-old Frenchman having earlier beaten Igor Andreev 64 63 76(1) to give France the early lead.Though this tie is being played indoors in Russia's Olympic Stadium, Davydenko and Mathieu played to the sound of thunder rumbling outside, as the humidity of a hot Moscow afternoon broke. And it was Mathieu who threatened to strike like lightning as he opened up seven break point opportunities in the first set, two of them set points at 4-5 on the Davydenko serve. But on the first he hit a backhand into the net, and on the second a forehand landed in the same place. In the next game the Russian broke, and was never behind after that."That was my tactic," said Davydenko afterwards. "I wanted to play solidly from the baseline and make him make the mistakes. The only time I didn't do that was in the third set, but I re-found my game plan in time to win in three sets."Leading 5-2 in the third set with a double break, Davydenko had two match points, but conceded his serve for the first time in the match. At 5-4 he had three more but conceded his serve again as Mathieu seemed to relax. But Davydenko broke for 6-5, to end Mathieu's impressive run of three successive Davis Cup victories dating back to his five-sets win over Carlos Moya last September.Gasquet's win must count as one of the most impressive Davis Cup debuts in recent years. The 19-year-old could have been forgiven for being a little nervous, but there were no signs of it early on. In fact it took until the third game for him to make an unforced error, and the only time the nerves set in were at the end when he squandered a 4-2 lead in the third set, before recovering to run out a 64 63 76(1) winner.But the nerves could have played a bigger part. "I had stress cramps in my right wrist," Gasquet said afterwards. "I've been thinking of this match for the past 10 days, I've been so keen to play, and I think this can happen. But I'm so pleased to have won, I played nearly a perfect match."Gasquet received treatment at 3-2 in the third set after dropping his racked in pain after a smash. He held for 4-2, but then Andreev played his best tennis of the match. He broke back and forced Gasquet to serve twice to stay in the third set. But once the set was in the tiebreak, the Frenchman clearly felt he had weathered the storm, and another effective dropshot allowed him to finish the tiebreak - and the match - for the loss of just one point."I don't know what I could have done differently," said Andreev, paying a compliment to his opponent. "He was just too solid. He was too good."France will start favourites for the doubles, with Arnaud Clément and Michael Llodra named to face Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny. France's captain Guy Forget said he expected Davydenko to come in to partner Andreev, as the two play regularly on the tour, but Davydenko suggested after beating Mathieu that his wrist would need a day's rest, especially as he feels it most on the volley and there are a lot more volleys in doubles than in singles.

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