Crucial Fifth Rubber To Decide Aussie Opponents
http://www.daviscup.org/news/matchreport.asp?id=12548
Agustin Calleri described it as the best match of his career, and it
may yet tee up one of the best final days in the recent history of
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.
Calleri defied all those who thought he was merely cannon fodder for
Juan Carlos Ferrero to seal Spain's place in the 2003 world group
final, by beating the World No. 1 64 75 61 in a remarkable display
of controlled aggression and tactical acumen.
"I'm very, very happy," an almost astonished Calleri said after his
exploits. "Now we are 2-2 with Spain." It leaves the tie in the hands
of Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio, who began the fifth rubber at three
o'clock on a sunny afternoon in Malaga.
Calleri, the architect of Saturday's Argentine doubles victory, served
notice that he was up for the contest when he broke in the opening game.
Ferrero broke straight back, and as he did so he put his finger to his
ear as if to call for vocal support from the 12,000 fans. But as the
next two and a half hours proved, the fans did their bit, while Ferrero
didn't.
Calleri's game plan was obvious - to rally with Ferrero until half a
chance came up, and then to go for the big shot. That frequently meant
going for backhand winners, as Ferrero kept the ball away from the
Argentine's big forehand as much as possible, but frequent changes of
direction meant Calleri hit the down-the-line winner more often than
Ferrero expected.
A break in the seventh game was enough to give Calleri the first set,
but still there seemed little for Ferrero to be unduly worried about,
and when he broke to lead 5-3 in the second, normal service appeared
to be resuming. But then the drama came.
Ferrero had a set point at 40-30 but ballooned a forehand over Calleri's
baseline. Ferrero thought he had won another set point with an ace, but
the ball was adjudged to have clipped the net, and Calleri was recalled
from the advantage court to retake the deuce point. He then broke back
for 4-5.
With Ferrero leading 0-40 in the next game, Calleri's recovery looked
to be short-lived, but the Argentine played two exemplary points -
finishing both at the net - to get back to 30-40, and then hit an ace
to get back to deuce. A second ace saved Ferrero's fifth set point,
and a third ace enabled Calleri to level at 5-5.
For the first time Ferrero began to look seriously worried. He bounced
his racket on the clay in frustration after a missed backhand, and was
promptly broken for 6-5. Calleri held serve to take the second set,
visibly growing in confidence.
In theory the match wasn't over, and had Ferrero held serve at the
start of the third he may have recovered some of his fighting spirit.
But Calleri broke on his sixth break point, and Ferrero won only one
more game for the match.
The latter rounds of Davis Cup haven't always been kind to World No.1s
- John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt have
all lost in finals while carrying the label - but this was a remarkable
victory for the 27-year-old who is in his second spell on the global
tennis tour after having a break helping at his father's winery. He
will be the toast of Argentina tonight, especially if Gaudio can
complete a phenomenal comeback in the fifth rubber against Moya.
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Calleri幫他老爸釀酒？！0_0
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※ 編輯: esnique 來自: 61.230.102.24 (09/23 08:23)