PARIS, 12 April 2004 — European Davis Cup heavyweights Spain and France set up a mouthwatering semifinal showdown in September after both nations clinched thrilling quarterfinal wins yesterday.
Nicolas Escude won the final rubber in Lausanne to give the French a 3-2 win over Switzerland while Juan Carlos Ferrero came back from two sets to one down to repeat his 2003 French Open final win against Martin Verkerk as Spain defeated the Netherlands.
In Minsk, little Belarus, who made sure of a first ever semifinal spot on Saturday, completed a 5-0 whitewash against Argentina and they now await the winner of the United States vs. Sweden match in Florida. The Americans led 2-1 after Saturday’s doubles.
France, who have been Davis Cup champions on nine occasions, were in debt to Escude who beat Michel Kratochvil 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) to make the final score 3-2 against the Swiss.
World No. 1 Roger Federer had leveled the scores at 2-2 in the first of the reverse singles defeating Arnaud Clement 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, but once again Swizerland’s lack of a reliable partner for Federer let the side down.
Federer had opened the tie on Friday with a straight sets win over Escude, after which Clement leveled against outgunned Ivo Heuberger.
The French pair of Escude and Mikael Llodra won the doubles in four sets Saturday against Federer and Yves Allegro to put their side 2-1 up. France will now travel to Spain for the semifinal to be played Sept. 24-26, looking to beat their neighbors for the first time in the tournament since 1923.
In Mallorca, Ferrero battled back from two sets to one down to beat Verkerk and lead Spain into the semifinals.
Ferrero beat big-serving Verkerk 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 but only after the brave Dutchman had gone to enormous lengths to bring his country back into the tie.
The Dutch had been trailing 2-0 after Friday’s opening singles and were staring at defeat on Saturday when their doubles team of Verkerk and John van Lottum were trailing two sets to one in the doubles.
However, rain meant a suspension until yesterday and they seized their opportunity to beat Tommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
After a brief rest, Verkerk returned to the court to face his French Open conqueror.
Despite losing the first set, he battled back thrillingly to lead Ferrero before fatigue eventually told.
The Spaniard broke in the twelfth game of the fourth set to level things up and a further two breaks in the fifth set saw Spain through to the last four.
On Friday, Verkerk had lost 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to Carlos Moya while Ferrero was too good for Raemon Sluiter 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
Belarus completed a 5-0 clean sweep over Argentina in Minsk with Max Mirnyi beating Lucas Arnold 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes while Voltchkov came back from a set down to beat Juan Monaco 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
At Delray Beach, twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan clinched a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 doubles victory over Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson to give the USA a 2-1 lead over Sweden.
Mauresmo Shocks Henin-Hardenne to Reach Amelia Island Final
Amelie Mauresmo continued her own impressive return from injury on Saturday, ousting world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne to reach the final of the $585,000 WTA Tour clay court tournament.
The French third seed saved one match point and rallied to upset top-ranked Belgian Henin-Hardenne 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-3.
In yesterday’s championship match, Mauresmo were to play fourth seeded American Lindsay Davenport, who notched her own comeback victory over seventh-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Mauresmo, the 2001 champion here, was never really in the first-set tiebreaker and fell behind 5-4 in the second set.
Henin-Hardenne owned a match point on the Frenchwoman’s serve in the 10th game, but Mauresmo held on before breaking serve and winning the next game to level the match.
