http://www.daviscup.org/news/matchreport.asp?id=12272
07 Feb 2003
Escude walks in Grosjean’s footsteps
His participation in the first round of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas was
doubtful, but when it came down to crunch time, Andrei Pavel walked onto
court with Nicolas Escude. His team was down one point to nil and his task
was far from being easy.
On the other hand, the Frenchman and hero of the 2001 Davis Cup final had
a lot less pressure on his shoulders. All he had to do was play his game
and hope to put France ahead 2-0 after a first day of Davis Cup tennis.
However it was the Frenchman who was quickly under fire. At 1-1, the
Frenchman managed to save three break points, and at the end of this never
ending game, Escude managed to take his serve.
There were no more break points until 6-6. Pavel’s back has only endured
two matches this season (two losses) but it seemed to be holding out. The
two men started off a tiebreak, and quickly Forget’s number two took
control. At 1-1, a return by the Frenchman forced his opponent into error.
Three points later, Escude extended his advantage with another winning
return to lead 5-1. The ace served by Pavel on the following point was
little comfort to the Bucharest crowd, as on the first opportunity, on a
weak passing shot by the Romanian, Escude took the first set 7-6(2).
The second set confirmed France’s domination. Escude broke Pavel in the
opening game. In a battle that led both men to the net, it would undoubtedly
be the Frenchman that came out victor. After this break, Pavel lost all
confidence. He started accumulating unforced errors and looked nothing like
the quarterfinalist of the 2002 French Open.
At 3-2 Escude, Pavel somehow managed to obtain a break point opportunity,
but this was quickly erased by an Escude ace - one of fourteen in the
match. A few points later, the net battle in which Pavel stubbornly pursued
ended once again in favour of the Frenchman, who took a 4-2 lead. Better
yet, he immediately broke his Romanian counterpart and confirmed the second
set on his serve 6-2.
The Romanian No. 1 displayed his lack of concentration by going to the wrong
side of the court at the beginning of the third set. He realised his error
when he saw Escude walk towards him.(^^b) However he managed to win his serve.
Just like the first rubber, the third set was the closest. Indeed this
competition, which is one of the major sporting events of the year in
Romania, was not about to shatter into pieces in one afternoon.
Pavel raised his game, and started to save face. Not a single break point
was converted, and the tiebreak could not be avoided. Once again the
Frenchman was the quickest to react, by taking his opponent’s first
service point. Escude held on to his mini-break and when offered a match
point at 6-5 on Pavel’s serve, did not hesitate. A powerful backhand
down the line, and the rest was history.
“I am very proud of having won this match in three straight sets, and
without conceding a single break”, says Escude, “The crowd was against
us, yelling and singing, but that’s Davis Cup, and that is what makes
the beauty of this competition”.
France leads 2-0 as it did versus the United States in the semifinals
of the 2002 competition. Romania has only once come back from a 0-2 deficit,
in 1990 versus Ireland in a first round Zonal tie.
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