Russia and Argentina 1-1 in Davis Cup quarters
David Nalbandian defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 7-6 7-6 to give Argentina the lead but Mikhail Youzhny then beat Leonardo Mayer 6-3 6-1 6-4 to level their Davis Cup quarterfinal at 1-1.
Youzhny secured victory in just over two hours in the second singles match on the hardcourt at the Olympic Indoor stadium. He had little trouble against Mayer, breaking his opponent five times.
“I was serving well today and that was the key factor to my victory,” Youzhny said. “We (the Russian team) were all under pressure playing Davis Cup quarterfinal in front of our home crowd.
“However, playing the first time against Mayer, I felt pretty confident today and experienced few troubles.”
Nalbandian broke Davydenko in the 10th game of the first set and rallied from 5-2 down in the second-set tiebreaker.
In the third set, Davydenko was serving at 6-5 in the tiebreaker but sent an easy overhead volley out and the argentine recovered to claim the win.
“We both didn’t play our best today,” Nalbandian said. “I didn’t like the match as we both were making plenty of mistakes. But I won and that’s the most important thing about this tie.”
“I always believe in my game and at the beginning I saw he wasn’t too solid from the baseline and also with his serve too, so I managed to get things on my side,” reflected Nalbandian.
“I tried to play the important points better and we both had a lot of chances today, but I just performed a little better on them,” said Nalbandian.
“It was very difficult for me to play the first match (in the tie) for Russia,” Davydenko said. “I didn’t play many matches recently and lacked confidence. I played 100 percent of my current form but it was not enough to win today.”
“I don’t think I played so bad, but I lost and in three sets, so it’s not such a good result for Russia and for me. I know I can play better, but today wasn’t my day. He played well, but I didn’t play that badly, but also not so good.” he added.
Source Yahoo/AP/Davis Cup website
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