France, Serbia set up semis clash
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http://www.supersport.com/tennis/sa-tennis/news/170406/Harris_to_open_procedures_for_SA
Serbia and France set up a Davis Cup semifinal showdown on Saturday while 32-time winners United States and Italy, who stunned defending champions Argentina in the first round, stayed alive with marathon wins.
Serbia and France set up a Davis Cup semifinal showdown on Saturday while 32-time winners United States and Italy, who stunned defending champions Argentina in the first round, stayed alive with marathon wins.
In Belgrade, Serbia's Viktor
Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic defeated
Pablo Carreno-Busta and Marc Lopez
4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 to seal victory over Spain while, in
Rouen, France also took an unassailable 3-0 lead against Great Britain.
France, the nine-time champions, will host 2010 winners Serbia in the semifinals in September.
However, the identity of the
other semifinalists will not be known until Sunday after the United
States pulled back to 2-1 down against Australia in Brisbane while Italy
battled to trail Belgium 2-1 at Charleroi.
Novak Djokovic and Troicki had
won Friday's singles to give Serbia a 2-0 lead over Spain before the
hosts took an unassailable advantage on Saturday against the five-time
champions who were missing 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal.
Victory gave 40-year-old
playing-captain Zimonjic, who has not missed a Davis Cup tie for a
decade, a 30th win in the tournament.
"He had pressure, he put himself
into play and did a great job," said Troicki who along with Djokovic
and Zimonjic played in the Serbia team which defeated France in the 2010
final.
France reached their fifth
semifinal in eight years when Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau
defeated Britain's Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot 7-6 (9/7), 5-7, 7-5,
7-5.
The win in the doubles followed
Lucas Pouille and Jeremy Chardy taking the opening singles on Friday as
Britain suffered in the injury-enforced absence of world No 1 Andy
Murray.
Mahut and Benneteau, both 35, have played more than 200 matches together in their careers.
That experience proved crucial
for a home side who went into the quarterfinal without their leading
singles players, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet.
'DAMN SIGHT BETTER'
"We had a great weekend, it gave me goosebumps," said France captain Yannick Noah.
Britain team captain Leon Smith defended his team who were champions in 2015 when Murray starred.
"Of course, we lack depth, that's pretty bloody obvious," said Smith. "But it's a damn sight better than it used to be.
"France are a very good team. We
knew it would be a difficult tie, that's the nature of the tournament.
But we have retained our World Group status and that has to be a
positive."
In Brisbane, Steve Johnson and
Jack Sock kept American hopes alive with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win
over Australia's John Peers and Sam Groth.
The win sets up an intriguing
final day, with Nick Kyrgios getting the chance to win over the
Australian public when he takes on Sock in the first of the reverse
singles.
Kyrgios was in sublime form when he downed John Isner on Friday to give Australia a 2-0 lead.
"Nick's got a lot of self belief
– it's going to take one hell of a performance to beat him," said
Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt.
In Charleroi, Italy's Andreas
Seppi and Simone Bolelli saved a match point to see off Ruben Bemelmans
and Joris De Loore 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6).
Belgium, the runners-up in 2015, had taken a 2-0 lead on Friday when Steve Darcis and David Goffin claimed the opening singles.
"It's tough but these kind of intense matches are the charm of the Davis Cup," said Belgium captain Johan Van Hercke.
In Sunday's reverse singles, Goffin will face Paolo Lorenzi while Darcis takes on Seppi.
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