Day 1 Davis Cup
Score:
Russia - France 1-1:
Davydenko - Mathieu: 62 26 16 57 (lost)
Youhzny - Gasquet: 63 63 67 57 75
I found some articles on the Davis Cup site, about the just played matches
For the link: http://www.daviscup.com/news/matchreport.asp?id=14172
The expected score but by a remarkable route
By a strange and somewhat circuitous route, Russia and France end the opening day all square, but few would have predicted the two results – and the remarkable performances that went with them – that created the overnight 1-1 score.First France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Nikolay Davydenko in four sets after a disastrous start. Then Mikhail Youzhny beat Richard Gasquet in five, two-and-a-half hours after having his first match point in a contest which saw both players dig deep for their country.After 34 minutes of the opening singles, Mathieu looked out of his depth. He was being penned two metres behind his baseline, and Davydenko was directing everything. But the Russian world No 1 is a confidence player, and once he lost a couple of long rallies to drop serve for 0-2 in the second, his belief began to evaporate. At the same time, Mathieu’s confidence grew, and the Frenchman cruised to a 2-1 lead.
Mathieu seals victory in front of the "Moscoutaires"But in the fourth set, the Russian started to get back. He found his range again, and after making good a 2-4 deficit, looked set to expose Mathieu’s mental frailties in sight of victory. But Mathieu held firm when serving at 4-5, broke for 6-5 when Davydenko’s unforced errors returned, and was the more solid in a long rally on the final point, which ended when a Davydenko backhand went wide. It gave the 56th ranked Mathieu a 26 62 61 75 victory, much to the delight of the couple of hundred blue-clad French fans, who have christened themselves the “Moscoutaires” for this tie (the English would be “Moscowteers”).“It was a fantastic win and I’m very happy,” said Mathieu, “but I don’t want to take it out of context. The greatest victory would be to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and this wasn’t that, and I also felt the atmosphere in the stadium was better when I beat Moya in Alicante [in the 2004 semifinals] than it was today. But it’s still a great win for me, and I’m very happy.”Gasquet looked strangely subdued in going two sets down to Youzhny. He lost his first two service games to love, and only got going in the third set. But as Youzhny began to get cramps, the Russian stumbled when chasing a wide backhand, and seemed to injure his knee. Still he worked himself to two match points at 6-5 15-40 on the Gasquet serve, and dumped a forehand dropshot into the net on the first of them with Gasquet stranded. The Russian led the tiebreak 5-2 and had two more match points, before Gasquet took the breaker 10-8.
Youzhny could barely move but it confused Gasquet
Cue dramatic fourth and fifth sets. In the fourth Youzhny looked on the point of retiring. He could barely move, and was giving Gasquet no pace, slicing off every backhand. But it worked. Gasquet seemed to have no answer to it, and only a poor 12th game from Youzhny allowed Gasquet to take the match into a fifth set.Though the cramps had gone, Youzhny looked the weaker in the fifth. He also looked to have missed his chance when he squandered three break points in the 11th game, but he broke in the 13th, and served out the victory, winning 62 63 67(8) 57 86 in four hours 48 minutes as Gasquet netted a backhand – after having his first match point after two hours 18!“I think I was trying to win too fast,” said Youzhny about his missed match points in the third set. Whether he will be able to take any further part in the tie remains to be seen – he will have to review his fitness on Saturday morning. But he’s not worried by the prospect of having done his bit. “We have a strong team,” he said, “so if one of us is too tired and needs to withdraw from a match, we can still win.”
For the interviews from today:
- Interview with Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) (MP3 format)
- Interview with Richard Gasquet (FRA) (MP3 format)
- Interview with Guy Forget (FRA) (MP3 format
Other information:
Related Links on other websites
Related Links on Daviscup.com
> Mathieu puts visitors in front
