Spain Reaches Final as Moya Overwhelms Gaudio
http://www.daviscup.org/news/matchreport.asp?id=12553
The Spanish made it to their fourth Davis Cup final, but their
semifinal against Argentina proved much closer than expected.
With Argentina missing Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian through
injury, and then losing both the opening singles, the visitors needed
something special to put up any sort of fight. Agustin Calleri provided
it. The 27-year-old Argentine, who took a break from the tennis tour
to help in his father's winery, put in a sparkling performance to beat
the world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 64 75 61 to take the semifinal
into a live fifth rubber.
When Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio went out at three o'clock to play
the deciding match, the outcome still seemed very 50:50 퀠Moya had
been disappointing on Friday, only beating Mariano Zabaleta thanks
to his opponent cramping within sight of victory, while Gaudio had
lost just twice in 15 Davis Cup rubbers.
But Moya turned on the style, beating Gaudio 61 64 62, without the
Argentine having a serious chance. "He played like the No. 1 today,"
said Argentina's Captain Gustavo Luza, who could at least go home
with his team's heads held high after what he called "Black Friday".
Moya himself concurred: "I was focused from the beginning, and I
played a brilliant game today," he said.
Moya came out determined to give Gaudio no time. He rushed him into
mistakes from the beginning, looking to use his big forehand and charge
to the net whenever it made sense. He won the first four games, and even
when Gaudio started to hold serve in the second set Moya still looked
the stronger player.
The one time Gaudio threatened to worry Moya was when the Spaniard
served for the second set. Moya led 5-4 40-0, but Gaudio then played
two great points to get back to 40-30. But on the third set point
Moya went for a big forehand and hit a clean winner wide of Gaudio's
lunging racket. That gave him the set, and when he won the match
barely half an hour later, he sank to the court in relief and joy.
With Australia talking about playing November's final on grass,
Moya could be the key. Though he has performed disappointingly at
Wimbledon, he was a semifinalist in Halle five years ago, and his
big serve and delightful touch at the net could see him be Spain's
best weapon. Even if Tennis Australia chooses the traditional Rebound
Ace surface of the Rod Laver Arena, Moya can draw on his experience
of reaching the Australian Open final in 1997.
And whenever Spain reaches a Davis Cup Final, it's always the
Australians standing between them and the trophy. In 1965 Australia
beat Manolo Santana's team in Sydney, in 1967 the same in Brisbane.
In 2000 Spain won on the indoor clay of Barcelona's Palau Sant Jordi,
with Ferrero hitting the winning backhand past Lleyton Hewitt, and
this time it will be at Melbourne Park.
"We're going to have a difficult tie against Australia," Moya said,
"but we have to go there with nothing to lose and give our best. "My
colleagues have won the Davis Cup already, but hopefully it's going
to be a special moment for me to be in a final for the first time."
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