Doubles Victory Keeps Argentina in the Running
http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=12532
Argentina finally had something to cheer in a semifinal which has so far
bought little but bad luck, when their doubles team of Lucas Arnold and
Agustin Calleri beat the experienced Spaniards Alex Corretja and Albert Costa
to take the tie into a third day.
Arnold and Calleri’s 63 16 64 62 win is unlikely to save the visitors
from defeat on the final day, in fact it will probably make Argentina regret
even more the loss of Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian, plus the cramps
which thwarted Mariano Zabaleta on Friday when two sets up on Carlos Moya.
But at least the couple of thousand blue-and-white clad supporters, who
have been an important part of this festive weekend, had something to cheer
about, and the way Calleri orchestrated the Argentine pairing following
Arnold’s slow start suggests he will get a crack at the world No. 1
Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first of the reverse singles.
Argentina’s captain Gustavo Luza refused to commit himself, saying he
would await the outcome of Zabaleta’s practice session after the doubles,
but Argentina’s players clearly believe Calleri will open the final day
after pushing Ferrero hard in a straight sets defeat in the Spaniard’s home
city of Valencia earlier this year.
Calleri certainly carried a slightly tentative Lucas Arnold through the
opening few games. Arnold is a veteran of ten Davis Cup doubles rubbers, but
needed the power of Calleri to thwart an impressive start by Corretja and
Costa, who had break point in the second game of the match.
But it was the Argentinians who created the more chances. They had a
break point in the third game, three in the fifth which included an easy
smash missed by each player, and it took until their seventh break point in
the seventh game of the match for Arnold to work a backhand down the line
for the first break of serve.
The visitors broke again to take the 64-minute first set, but then the
Spaniards came right back into it. They broke Calleri in the opening game
of the second set, and then broke Arnold three times to open up a 2-0 lead
in the third. At that point, with Argentina seemingly unable to convert break
points, Spain looked to be heading for the one point they needed to reach
their second final in three years.
But suddenly Costa and Corretja were both broken to love, and when Calleri
lashed out at a Costa smash for a clean down-the-line winner, the forces
suddenly seemed to be with Argentina. A controversial overrule prevented
the visitors taking a fifth successive game, and caused a delay of about
five minutes while Luza argued with the umpire and referee, but Arnold and
Calleri had taken enough of a grip on the match to hold their nerve and serve
to take the third set.
In the fourth they were simply the better team. They broke Corretja
twice as the two Spanish dads looked increasingly demoralised despite the
best efforts of their 12,000 supporters, and ran out winners just a few
minutes short of four hours.
“If the other guys were better we have to acknowledge that,”
Corretja said. “They played a really solid match. Lucas and
Agustin played aggressively, they found their shots, so we can't
say we lost, we have to say that they won.
Arnold said it was one of the best wins of his career. “It’s a great v
ictory, I’m very happy, it was similar to the semifinals last year in Moscow
when we were 2-0 down and David Nalbandian and I won the doubles 19-17 in the
fifth set – maybe that one was more emotional, but this was very nice too.”
--
我從不畫夢境，我畫我的真實
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 218.162.49.68
※ 編輯: andalucia 來自: 218.162.49.68 (09/21 14:39)