It wouldn’t be Davis Cup without the unexpected. We got plenty of that yesterday:
- Starting with the biggest shock: India is level with Serbia. Somdev Devvarman took out Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets. What might be an even bigger surprise, Rohan Bopanna took Viktor Troicki to five sets. With Bopanna, you have to favor India in the doubles, and if Devvarman and Bopanna are playing this well, they’ve got a chance to grab a point in the reverse singles, as well. Wow.
- I predicted a Sweden win regardless, but a straight set win for Joachim Johansson over Teymuraz Gabashvili? I don’t think anyone outside of Sweden saw that coming. A 2-0 lead basically locks up the win for the Swedes.
- As I suggested the other day, Jurgen Melzer isn’t exactly unassailable right now, and Jeremy Chardy proved it yesterday with a victory over the Austrian in straights. The depth of French tennis is simply amazing–Chardy is the nation’s #6 player.
For all of that, the best tennis on Friday may have taken place in Croatia. Both singles matches went five sets, with Marin Cilic edging Florian Mayer, and Phillip Kohlschreiber squeaking past Ivan Dodig. Today’s doubles rubber may well end up deciding the tie.
A rung down the ladder, Canada is facing Mexico. Even without Daniel Nestor, Canada is heavily favored. I was very curious to see how Milos Raonic would handle the clay. His opponent is outside the top 500, so maybe the result doesn’t mean much, but Raonic came through with ease, dropping only five games.
The most intriguing matchup in Group 1 is Netherlands vs. Ukraine. Neither squad would be out of place in the World Group; arguably, either one is better than Belgium and Chile, and perhaps even Russia. The tie is even at one apiece, after Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Robin Haase in five sets and Thiemo de Bakker beat Ilya Marchenko in straights.
Back to Dallas: The American challenger is a lot less exciting now; in the first two matches yesterday, Jack Sock and Ryan Harrison exited the tournament. Sock was impressive for much of the first set, but Matthew Ebden‘s speed and consistency was too much. Still, it’s an exciting week for the youngster, and the quarterfinal showing should boost him more than 200 places in the rankings, up to the top 600.
More results: Benjamin Mitchell advanced to the final in Australia F2, taking out top seed Vishnu Vardhan. It’s the second final of his career, and he’ll be gunning for his first tournament win when he faces countryman Michael Look. The two have faced each other before: in November, Mitchell won in three sets.
HT.com favorites Grigor Dimitrov and Horacio Zeballos keep winning: Dimitrov is in the semis in Cherbourg, and Zeballos has reached the final in Salinas.
Here’s one more name to keep an eye on: Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe. A former African junior champ, he’s 20 years old, and he’s in the semifinals of USA F6. He’s reached the later rounds of a handful of futures tournaments, but this is his best result in the U.S. He had to qualify, so he has strung together five wins this week. Today, he’ll face his toughest opponent of the week in top-seeded Brit Daniel Cox, ranked 320th in the world
I think it’s time to watch some doubles!