Australia to Host Swiss in Davis Cup Semi
http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=12401
Australia scored a resounding 5-0 victory over Sweden in the quarterfinal of
the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. It was only the second time, the last being in
1964, that Australia has scored such a decisive victory over Sweden. The
Aussies will now play Switzerland who, led by Roger Federer, defeated last
year's finalist France in Toulouse.
Australia has up to 30 days to name the city and venue for the semifinal tie
against the Swiss, to be played on 19-21 September.
The President of Tennis Australia Geoff Pollard, who was in Malmo for the tie,
referred to the win as "perfect". He said: "Our guys have been outstanding,
all four of them. Its some of the best tennis they have ever played. You
wouldn't see guys play better doubles, Philippoussis showed shades of Nice
(1999 Davis Cup Final) and Hewitt, well he is number one in the world.
"It was a fantastic result. Any win away from home is great but to beat a
team as good as Sweden is extra special."
Australia enjoyed a tremendous weekend defeating Sweden for the seventh time
in nine Davis Cup meetings. Certainly they believed they could win and even
though they did not make it public, believed they would win. However, to do
it in the manner that they did against Sweden - regarded as a Davis Cup
powerhouse – will be an enormous boost to the team as they look ahead to the
semifinals.
In the dead reverse singles rubbers, Wayne Arthurs, who replaced Lleyton
Hewitt, defeated Joachim Johansson, a replacement for Jonas Bjorkman,
63 36 76(4) and then Mark Philippoussis defeated Magnus Norman, who took the
place of Thomas Enqvist, 75 57 63.
"Everything clicked this weekend," said Australian captain John Fitzgerald.
"I could not be any more proud of the boys than I am right now. Every one of
them did their part. It was a great weekend and they all play very good
tennis."
With six months before the semifinal tie, Fitzgerald and Australian coach
Wally Masur can relax a bit. They will start working on team plans once
Wimbledon is out of the way, and that will still give them two months.
"To play at home is always an advantage but I feel like we also have a team
that is competitive everywhere and on every surface," added Fitzgerald. "The
Swiss are a great team and Roger Federer is just a world class player."
Discussions are now underway as to where the semifinal will be played.
Looking even further ahead, a win against Switzerland would set up a home
final against either Spain or Argentina in Melbourne.
"It's a massive opportunity to go two home matches in a row, semis and
finals, to have both those at home would be pretty big for us," Wayne Arthurs
said. "Roger (Federer) has proved over the last few years that he's a bloody
good Davis Cup player. He's held that team together. If they don't have him,
they don't have anybody. He's shown he's up there in the top five, top three
even, of Davis Cup players of his time."
Tennis Australia will accept proposals from the various state associations
and take input from the team before making a decision on the semifinal venue.
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