TAG | Davis Cup
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India Faces Tough Battle against Serbia in Davis Cup
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India has some reprieve in their Davis Cup World Group opener against defending champions Serbia as World no.3 Novak Djokovic will stay out from the contest. In front of a home crowd in Belgrade in the 2010 final, the Australian Open victor led Serbia to a momentous triumph over France. Djokovic will be focusing on the U.S. hard-court season and consequently has opted out of the March 4-6 first-round world group tie.
The visiting side’s self-belief did draw a little boost in the Thursday’s draw. The visitors will be playing without their star players Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes.
On Thursday, the World Group first round was declared. Ranked 629 in singles, Rohan Bopanna will be facing a stronger challenger. Only during the Davis Cup, the doubles specialist on the tour, beckoned for singles responsibility and he will start the proceedings against Viktor Troicki. Bopanna’s rival Troicki is positioned 17 in the ATP rankings.
Somdev Devvarman has squashed some of the top-50 players previously and he, in recent times reached a career-best 80. He has the capability to push Janko Tipsarevic in the other singles match on Friday. Tipsarevic is at present ranked 45. Expect Somdev to give some hard-hitting fight to Janko.
According to various tennis betting odds, the best bet for Janko Tipsarevic (1/7) against Somdev Devvarman (13/2) and Viktor Troicki is (1/25) vs. Rohan Bopanna (14).
For the second straight year, India secured their place in the privileged 16 by overpowering Brazil 3-2 at home in the World Group play-off and a defeat will definitely pull them back in the play-off round. The two countries are tied 1-1. When Serbia played as Yugoslavia in 1988, they beat India 3-2 in New Delhi. In 1927, India had witnessed a win by beating them 3-0 in Zagreb.
ATP · Davis Cup · Leander Paes · Mahesh Bhupathi · Novak Djokovic
The quarterfinals of the 2010 World Group Davis Cup were played out on multiple continents, between July 9 and 11. Among the last eight remaining teams, there were expected victories, nail biting clutch wins and shocking upsets. The tennis tournament news were as exciting as the matches.
In a surprising 5-0 sweep, last year’s winner Spain was eliminated by the underdog French team. The French secured a spot in the World Group semifinals by managing to play some great tennis, although the first three matches were very close.
David Ferrer was defeated by Gael Monfils in five sets, on the first day and then in an upset of four sets, Fernando Verdasco lost to Michael Llodra. The next day, against the lefty duo of Feliciano Lopez and Verdasco, Julien Benneteau teamed up with Llodra to win the doubles match in four sets. France defeated Spain in Davis Cup for the first time in 80 years.
David Nalbandian was the hero of tie between Argentina and Russia clash. Against Nikolay Davydenko, Nalbandian won his first rubber and his fifth against Mikhail Youzhny. Nalbandian’s focus was not affected by the Russian crowd and both victories came in straight sets. Argentina will face France in the semifinal, after winning the tie 3-2.
Because of the historic political problems between Serbia and Croatia, the two neighbors, the clash between them had a lot of tension. However, against the Croats, Novak Djokovic, Serbian star, led his team to a 4-1 victory. For this win at Split, Croatia, credit goes to Tipsarevic and Zimonjic too.
The Czechs quietly defeated Chile 4-1, in the last quarterfinal of Davis Cup. Home advantage of Chile didn’t help them at all. The Chilean team was hurt by the absence of Fernando Gonzalez., for semifinal against Serbia; the Czech team was helped by Jan Hajek, Lukas Dlouhy and Ivo Minar.
