Nadal Puts Spain in Quarterfinals
The youngest player in Spanish Davis Cup history, Rafael Nadal, put his team
into the World Group quarterfinals of this year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.
The seventeen-year-old beat Radek Stepanek 76(2) 76(4) 63 in the decisive fifth
rubber of the tie between Czech Republic and Spain, the tenth time that Spain
have turned the tie from 1-2 down after the doubles.
Nadal started the same way he did against Jiri Novak , very aggressively, and
had a 4-1 lead. Stepanek, with the support of the sell-out crowd fought for
each point and levelled to 4-4. The Spaniard failed to convert a setpoint at
5-4 but played a much better tiebreak.
No breaks of serve doesn’t mean that the second set was boring. Both players
served well, played some exciting rallies and fought for each point. A linesmen
called a ball from Stepanek’s forehand wide in the tenth game and this made
the home team and crowd pretty angry. Shortly afterwards Stepanek failed to
convert a setpoint.
A few minutes after this incident, Stepanek ran into a courtside barrier and
had to have his left ankle taped but the Czech player was able to continue. "It
was nothing pleasant but I could continue to play," said Stepanek.
The Spaniard played the crucial points of the second set tie-breaker better and
earned a two-set lead. Nadal continued playing solidly and got a 4-1 lead in
the third set. He faced two breakpoints when serving at 5-3 but after 2 hours
38 minutes finally converted a third matchpoint. "It is good for me and good
for Spain. I am really very happy that I won this match. It was so difficult
for me to fight for the decisive point. I was pretty nervous," he said after
his second Davis Cup singles match. "I just tried to play my best tennis," he
added.
"He was a lot faster than I was which is one of the reasons why I made so many
mistakes," Stepanek said. He is still without a win in four Davis Cup singles
matches.
"It is a disappointment for us. We hoped to win the tie after leading after the
doubles but we were not lucky with Novak’s injury," Czech captain Cyril Suk
said after the tie.
Spain left Brno as the winner despite missing its two best players, Carlos Moya
and Juan-Carlos Ferrero and trailing after Saturday’s doubles. Last year’s
finalist now hosts the Netherlands .
"We know that Netherlands is one of the strongest teams in the World Group but
we will play on home soil and nobody will beat us at home," the Spanish
captain Jordi Arrese commented.
"We knew from the beginning that it will be a tough tie against the Czech
Republic but we expected Novak playing three matches to be a little bit tired.
After a 1:2 down after the doubles it seemed to be a little bit different.
Fortunatelly our young players made a good job on Sunday’s singles, I really
admire both of them," Jordi Arrese said. "We don’t expect Novak to pull out.
The hardest moment? Maybe during the first day when Nadal had a few chances
against Novak and he didn’t take it," he continued.
"They are the favourites," Jiri Novak warned all the optimists, but until his
calf muscle injury it was a close tie. Novak started perfectly for the home
country, beating Nadal in the opening match in straight sets. Robredo showed
why he is ranked in the world’s top twenty and beat Radek Stepanek. The Czech
team celebrated doubles victory but Novak warned at the press conference:
"I don’t celebrate anything. Davis Cup is a specific event…"
And so it proved, he had to pull out of a Davis Cup match for the first time
in his career and follow the action from the bench. It was not a good view for
him.
Jordi Arrese was lucky choosing Feliciano Lopez instead of Robredo. Lopez in
his first ever Davis Cup singles match devastated Czech youngster Tomas
Berdych and then Nadal proved why he is named as one of the biggest future
stars of men’s tennis in earning the decisive point for Spain.
"For sure there will be a great party tonight. We don’t know how these players
will get to Milan where they play the tournament," Arrese joked
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