The Hindu : Swedes clinch doubles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Swedes clinch doubles

ADELAIDE, FEB. 7. Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johansson edged Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (5), 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a heated doubles match Saturday as Sweden took a 2-1 lead over defending champion Australia in their Davis Cup first-round series.

Sweden dominated the first two sets, but Australia levelled at 2-all and was up a break in the fifth before losing in 4 hours, 28 minutes when Woodbridge dropped serve for the fifth time.

Temperatures and tempers soared at Memorial Drive. The fourth set was twice interrupted when chair umpire Carlos Ramos of Portugal asked members of the Memorial Drive crowd to cease making ``unfair comments directed at an individual'' when Johansson was serving.

The opening singles matches in the best-of-five series were split Friday, with Lleyton Hewitt levelling at 1-1 in straight sets over rookie Robin Soderling after Sweden's Thomas Enqvist upset Mark Philippoussis in the opening match of the best-of-five series.

Two months after beating Spain in the Davis Cup final in Melbourne, Australia needs to win both reverse singles Sunday to avoid becoming the seventh champion team — since the final round was introduced in 1972 — to be eliminated in the first round of the following season.

``We're not out of it yet,'' said Australian captain John Fitzgerald. ``Obviously there's a big difference between being 1-2 or 2-1, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility to win.''

Bjorkman had lost five consecutive Davis Cup doubles matches, so the win came as a boost to him and the team. The Woodbridge-Arthurs combination hadn't lost in the tournament in two years.

``We've been on a bad streak, losing a lot of doubles. It's great to be in a winning position again,'' Bjorkman said. ``Hopefully, Robin or Thomas can give us the last point.''

Australian No. 1 Philippoussis is expected to face Soderling in the first reverse singles Sunday. If he wins, a deciding fifth match would feature Enqvist vs. Hewitt, who is aiming for his 25th Davis Cup singles win to become Australia's most successful Davis Cup player.

Fitzgerald said Philippoussis had played the winning singles match in two Davis Cup finals (1999 and 2003) and he was capable of levelling the series regardless of his opponent on Sunday.

Bjorkman, ranked 28th, is a candidate to replace Soderling, although Sweden captain Mats Wilander said he was almost certain to stick with his original selections in singles.

``There's no quitting in this team. They all know they can beat any player at any time,'' said Wilander.

Sweden has won all eight times it has taken a 2-1 lead into the third day of Davis Cup in the last decade. Australia has rallied to win from a 2-1 deficit only once in five series over the same period.

Johansson, rattled by some distracting heckling, dropped serve in the second game of the fourth set and Australia raced to a 4-1 lead.

The Swedes rallied and forced a tiebreaker before Johansson netted three consecutive forehands and sent the game to a deciding fifth set.

As the temperature on the Rebound Ace court soared above 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit), Bjorkman was broken in the opening game of the fifth.

Johansson saved two break points in the seventh game and Woodbridge was broken in the eighth as Sweden levelled at 4-all. The next three games went on serve until Woodbridge, after saving two match points, put a backhand volley wide.

``In the end it came down to a couple of lucky shots,'' said Bjorkman.

Australian coach Wally Masur had to ask a group of fans in yellow shirts — recognized in Australia as the ``Fanatics'' — to calm down in the fourth set when Wilander appealed to match referee Norbert Peick to stop the heckling of Johansson.

Officials later said no official warning was made.

World Group results :

At Adelaide: Australia 1, Sweden 2 (Wayne Arthurs & Todd Woodbridge lost to Jonas Bjorkman & Joachim Johansson 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4), 5-7).

At Brno: Czech Republic 1, Spain 1 (Radek Stepanek lost to Tommy Robredo 5-7, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-7 (7)).

At Agadir: Morocco 0, Argentina 2 (Mounir El Aarej lost to Guillermo Coria 1-6, 1-6, 4-6; Hicham Arazi lost to David Nalbandian 6-4, 1-6, 5-7, 1-2 retd.).

At Maastricht: Netherlands 2, Canada 1 (Martin Verkerk bt Simon Larose, Canada, 6-4, 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3; Martin Verkerk & Paul Haarhuis lost to Daniel Nestor & Frederic Niemeyer bt 6-7 (10), 0=1, retd.).

At Metz: France 2, Croatia 1 (Thierry Ascione lost to Ivan Ljubicic 5-7, 4-6, 4-6; Nicolas Escude & Mickael Llodra bt Mario Ancic & Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 7-6, 6-3).

At Bucharest: Romania 1, Switzerland 1 (Victor Hanescu lost to Roger Federer 6-7 (4), 3-6, 1-6).

At Minsk: Belarus 1, Russia 1 (Vladimir Voltchkov lost to Igor Andreev 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5, 4-3 retd., Max Mirnyi bt Marat Safin 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 1-6, 4-6, 11-9).

At Uncasville: United States 2, Austria 0 (Robby Ginepri bt Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (6), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; Andy Roddick bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-4, 6-2).

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