Davis Cup - Argentina in the Lead after the Doubles

(Arne Forsell/Davis Cup website)

David and Horacio Zeballos won today's doubles, defeating Robin Söderling and Robert Lindstedt 6-2, 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
After the second day of the tie, Argentina are now up 2-1.

- Those are the facts after a match that proved of how little importance statistics and sheer logic can be when David is playing Davis Cup. On paper, it looked like a very makeable rubber for the Swedes, with their experienced doubles team and playing in front of their home crowd. Against Davis Cup debutant Horacio Zeballos and David, coming straight from another injury and having played exactly two matches in the last ten moths. Apart from that, the two of them only had one and a half days to prepare for their first ever doubles match together...

I guess you cannot even blame the Swedish team for being as surprised as they obviously were when after the first four games they found themselves down a double break and 4-0. From the very first point on, David and Horacio seemed determined to give everything they could - but also to enjoy themselves on court. It was clear from the start that David was the boss. But the atmosphere between the two was very relaxed and that helped Horacio to play his best tennis, or as he later said, "I felt very safe with David at my side". Early on in the match, David hit a couple of amazing return winners and also displayed some deft touch at the net. And although his serve didn't really look too good at first (it improved as the match went on though his first serve percentage was once more a catastrophe) he was able to hold serve, also in the important moments, for example when he served for the first set at 5-2 and after saving a break point served an ace to set up a first set point. In that moment, one of their biggest strengths today became apparent - they took the first chance they had and won the first set 6-2.



In the first set, David and Horacio had been the dominant team, playing more aggressively than the Swedes and also showing no real signs of any coordination problems. Especially on David's serve, Horacio covered the net extremely well, winning many quick points for their team with his amazingly fast volleys. At the start of the second set, however, a couple of unfortunate points during Horacio's first service game (and maybe also the Swedish crowd recovering from their shock again) led to an early break against Argentina and gave Sweden a 2-0 lead. At 3-0 and on David's serve the Swedish team had another break point to go up a double break but once again, David saved it with a service winner and eventually held for 3-1. At 4-2, David and Horacio managed to get the re-break, when Lindstedt dropped his serve after having already been up 40-15. Once more taking the first chance that presented itself to them. At 5-4 and on game point, David played a series of artistic volleys at the net that had Horacio bow to him and of which I really hope there's going to be a YouTube clip... In the end, the set went to a tiebreak. There, they had two set points at 6-4, the first of which coming on Horacio's serve. And once again, he immediately took his chance and converted it with an ace. 7-6(4).


(AP Photo)

Though David and Horacio were now leading two sets to love, many of the games had been fairly long and hard-fought until this point. But this was to change now in the third set. Until 6-5 Argentina, there were neither any deuces, nor further break points. Instead, all four players easily held their serves until Lindstedt had to serve for Sweden to stay in the match. That particular game saw a lengthy deuce battle but in the end no break, i.e. match points. Instead, the third set also went to a tiebreak. Which began with a clean return winner from Lindstedt off a second serve from David and therefore a mini-break for Sweden. But already two points later, Horacio hit a return winner off a second serve from Söderling to bring them back on serve. At 3-2, a great return from David drew the error from Lindstedt and now saw them up a mini-break. Eventually, at 6-4, David and Horacio had two match points, though this time the first one came on Söderling's serve and he managed to save it with an ace. But then, at 6-5, it was Horacio's turn to serve... And he converted their second match point with a great short volley cross. 7-6(5).

Here's a clip of the last two points...



(More photos from the match on the photo page.)

In his interview directly after the match, David was of course happy about the victory and also full of praise for his new doubles partner...

A key rubber for this tie. We played a very good match. We had our doubts because we've never played together before and I just arrived here. But Horacio was fantastic. As if he had already played 20 Davis Cup ties and that was his debut today... He played an impressive match. Taking the match point by point helped us a lot.

But at the same time, he had to admit that he's not in perfect shape and that by all rights he shouldn't be playing...

I feel fine but the adductor is there, only half okay. The reality is that I shouldn't be playing. I came here only to play the doubles and fortunately, we won. But well, we'll see tomorrow...

Tito Vázquez is still hoping for Leonardo Mayer to pull off the big upset and beat Söderling tomorrow. But he's obviously speculating that if it all comes down to a decisive fifth rubber then David will play...

David has a good chance of playing tomorrow. Mayer will play against Söderling and if after that the score is 2-2 then hopefully we'll have a surprise for them. Then we'll see who's going to play [the fifth rubber]. (Sources: canchallena.com & Olé)

Though I'm not really sure whether it would be such a huge surprise for the Swedes, as the following quote from Robert Lindstedt (from his interview for the Davis Cup website) shows...

Hopefully we made David run a little bit so he's not going to feel too fit tomorrow.

In his audio interview for the Davis Cup website (which you can find at the bottom of this article), David once again admits that he's not 100% fit and that he hopes he won't have to play tomorrow. But that he will if he has to...
The Davis Cup madness continues.

- But whatever may happen on the third day of this tie, one thing is certain. I won't be here to see it. Instead, Krystle's debut on Vamos David will come a little sooner than expected and she'll keep you posted tomorrow. So, be nice to her. ;)