Davydenko puts Russia in control

Davydenko puts Russia in control

The ability of the French Davis Cup team to punch above its weight has perhaps distracted the tennis world from the fact that Russia have arguably their strongest-ever Davis Cup by BNP Paribas team. And that strength showed on a first day in Pau that has left the Russians on the verge of a home semifinal.

After Marat Safin had beaten Richard Gasquet in a high-quality five-setter, Nikolay Davydenko overcame a slow start to prove too strong and consistent for France’s Arnaud Clement, the Russian winning 36 62 64 76(4) to give Russia a 2-0 lead. All is not lost for the hosts, as they are favourites for the doubles, and Davydenko finished his match with an injury which could make him doubtful for Sunday’s reverse singles. But it would still be an astonishing achievement for France to come back from such an emphatic deficit.

Safin the difference between the teams

The difference on the opening day was clearly Safin. Anyone who doubted whether the mercurial Russian would ever rediscover his best form after a knee injury kept him off the tour for eight months last year should have seen his opening match in this tie.

Safin played some of his best tennis since winning the Australian Open 15 months ago, to beat France’s Richard Gasquet 76(4) 46 63 67(1) 61. Gasquet didn’t play a bad match, and was quite justified in not being too hard on himself afterwards.

“Marat is a great player, and he played like someone in the top five,” he said, which was a fair summing-up.

With two supremely talented players facing each other on a carpet court that was too fast for them to play solely from the baseline, the two men offered three hours and 42 minutes of high-quality and varied tennis. For large stretches of the match Gasquet charged to the net behind his first serve, and some of his volleys and drop shots were exquisite.

But on the other side of the net was a man who, though at times still a little inconsistent in just his seventh match of the year, could do anything with his racket, and frequently did. The 7,000 strong crowd – which included Mansour Bahrami, Nicolas Escude and the women’s world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo – cheered Gasquet on, but in the end Safin proved just a little too strong.

Davydenko holds on for second point

Clement, who has bounced back to singles form this year with the title in Marseille and other impressive performances, looked to be bringing the French back level when he took the first set against Davydenko. But the Russian gradually found his stride, and from the moment he broke early in the second set, he got into one of those zones where he barely makes a mistake. Clement held with him for much of the third set, opening up a 3-1 lead at one stage, but in the 10th game the Russian converted his second set point to give him the third set.

Clement battled back well from 1-4 down in the fourth, but he was having to go for the lines and corners to thwart Davydenko’s deadly accuracy. But then in the tiebreak drama struck, which could yet influence the outcome of the tie. Before the first point, Davydenko winced and pinched his hip. Then after five points he took a medical timeout for a cramping problem. He came back to a chorus of boos from the French fans, and ran out a 7-4 winner, falling to his knees in relief after winning the match.

“I’ve never had a cramping problem like that,” he said at the end of the match. “I knew my last chance to win the match was in that tiebreak. If he had won the fourth set, I would have had to retire in the fifth.”

Davydenko declined to say whether his injury would affect his presence in the first of Sunday’s reverse singles, when he’s due to face Gasquet.

In the doubles France are almost certain to stick with their nominated pair of Clement and Michael Llodra, while Russia’s big question is whether to play Safin with Mikhail Youzhny, generally considered the visitors’ best pairing, or to give Safin a day off and stick with the nomination of Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov.

http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=13736