http://www.fft.fr/coupe-davis/2007/russie-france/album/album7/index_html.html
第五點相簿
08 Apr 2007 - Small Sport Arena "Luzhniki", Moscow, Russia - Chris Bowers -
RUS v FRA
Safin the hero once more as Russia again prove too strong
Whatever else Marat Safin goes on to achieve in his career, he will remain
one of Moscow's favourite sons, and he has just enhanced his reputation still
further. For the second time in four months, Safin won a live fifth rubber in
his home city, to see Russia through to the semifinals and another home tie
against Germany.
It is a mark of the strength of the Russian team that Shamil Tarpischev could
afford to hold back his twice-Grand Slam champion, twice-Davis Cup winner and
former world No 1 and throw him in for a final rubber. Part of that decision
was dictated by blisters on Safin's feet that prevented him from practising
much this past week, but blisters or not, nothing stopped him playing another
superb Davis Cup match, sending down 15 aces in a 76(3) 63 62 victory over
the luckless Paul-Henri Mathieu.
A third fifth rubber loss for Mathieu
You have to feel sorry for Mathieu. He has now played three live Davis Cup
fifth rubbers, all against Russia, and lost them all. But while he failed to
handle the pressure in his defeats to Mikhail Youzhny in the 2002 final and
to Igor Andreev in the 2005 quarterfinals, there can be no blame this time.
He played a very solid match, fighting off four break points at 5-5 in the
first set. On another day he might well have beaten the erratic Safin, but
this was a day when Safin was on form and on song, and there was nothing
Mathieu could do once he had lost the first set tiebreak.
"I think it was surprising for me that I could play such good tennis," said
Safin. "I was injured for a couple of days, I couldn't practise because of
the blisters, so it was pretty amazing. I was so confident, for some reason.
I felt I was going to win, and with such confidence I felt there was no
chance it would go five sets."
Safin's win ended a day - indeed a tie - full of drama. It was the only
straight sets score of the weekend, which saw three successive five-setters.
Grosjean used guile and cunning to beat the bigger player
In the third of them, Sebastien Grosjean came back from being overpowered
for two and a half sets by Andreev to win 75 46 26 63 64 in four minutes
short of four hours. It was a wonderful match, and those tennis purists
who delight in the ability of the little guy to use guile and cunning to
beat bigger and more powerful players would have loved it.
But ultimately it wasn't enough for the visitors. Four times since December
2002 the French have played Russia, and four times they have lost. Guy Forget
gambled on sacrificing his best doubles team in favour of greater singles
strength, and it nearly worked. The doubles could have gone either way,
and Grosjean proved an admirable replacement for Richard Gasquet, who
woke up on Sunday morning still tired after his four hours 48 minutes
on court with Youzhny on Friday night, and suffering from sore feet.
Yet the French will have a sore head after coming so close, and once
again failing to overpower the Russian bear.
Russia will now host Germany in September's semifinals, probably in
Moscow, but results elsewhere mean the Russians can no longer host
the final. If they beat Germany, they would be away to Sweden or USA.
But this weekend has shown that, whether home or away, it will be mighty
difficult to dislodge Russia from the top of the Davis Cup nations ranking.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 134.225.169.81