PARIS, 25 September 2004 — Paul-Henri Mathieu buried the nightmare of his last Davis Cup appearance by coming from behind to beat former French Open champion Carlos Moya and give France a 1-0 semifinal lead over Spain yesterday.
Mathieu had been two points away from handing his country the Davis Cup in the final against Russia in Paris in 2002 but he choked and let opponent Mikhail Youzhny come back from two sets down to snatch the trophy.
But on the clay courts of Alicante, built inside the town’s bullring, the 77th world ranked player mounted a stunning fightback to beat world No. 6 Moya 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a 4hr 29min marathon.
When bad light stopped play for the day Juan Carlos Ferrero was on his way to leveling the tie as he opened up a 6-3, 6-1, 1-6, 3-3 lead over Fabrice Santoro.
“I was two points away from victory in the 2002 final,” said Mathieu. “Today I was thinking of that, but I took my chances, and that’s why I won.”
The winning point came after a 29-stroke rally.
In Charleston, world No. 2 Andy Roddick broke his own fastest serve record as he overwhelmed Belarus’s Vladimir Voltchkov in the opening match of the semifinal. The US No. 1 won 6-1 6-4 6-4 in the first tie between the two countries.
The American closed the match with his 17th ace of the day, having moved to 40-0 with a 155mph (249kph) serve, two mph faster than the previous record he set at the Stella Artois championship in June.
The American lost only one point on serve in winning the first set. Voltchkov, playing with a sprained left wrist, made it closer in the next two sets but he could never handle Roddick’s serve. Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish was due to meet Belarus No. 1 Max Mirnyi in the second singles.
In the World Group playoffs, where the winners will book a place in the elite group for 2005, Australia were 2-0 ahead of an injury-hit Morocco in Perth. Australia’s top-ranked player Lleyton Hewitt became the most successful singles player in his nation’s 99-year history in the tournament, breaking the previous record held by Adrian Quist.
The mismatch was always likely after Morroco’s two leading singles players, Younes El Aynaoui and Hicham Arazi, pulled out of the tournament with injuries, leaving Mounir El Aarej, ranked 428, and Medhi Tahiri, ranked 507 in the world to fly the flag.
El Aarej was pitted against grasscourt specialist Wayne Arthurs in the opening rubber and showed plenty of grit before succumbing 7-6 (8 6), 6-4, 6-3. Hewitt, the current world No. 3, crushed Tahiri 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to give him a 25-5 win-loss record over five years of Davis Cup play.
In Moscow, Russian No. 1 Marat Safin gave his team a commanding 2-0 lead against Thailand beating Danai Udomchoke 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 after Igor Andreev had beaten Paradorn Srichaphan 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
The fickle autumn weather in Europe put paid to the first day of the tie between Austria and Great Britain in Portschach when rain and thunder washed out any prospect of play.
In Bratislava, Tommy Haas beat Karol Beck 6-7 (2 7,) 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to pull Germany level with Slovakia 1-1 after Dominik Hrbaty had defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. It was Haas’s 13th win in 14 Davis Cup rubbers.
Croatia took a commanding 2-0 lead against Belgium in Rijeka with Ivan Ljubicic seeing off Gilles Elseneer 7-6 (8 6), 7-5, 6-4 whilst Mario Ancic eased past Belgian number one Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6 (7 2), 6-1 to gain revenge for his defeat by the Belgian at the US Open. Croatia could call on the expertise of former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic who is now serving as assistant to Davis Cup captain Niki Pilic.
Elsewhere in the playoffs, Chile’s Olympic champion Nicolas Massu gave his side the perfect start in Vina del Mar with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win over Japan’s Gouichi Motomura.
In Bucharest, Romania lead Canada 2-0 after Victor Hanescu beat Frank Dancevic 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Andrei Pavel had enjoyed a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 win over Simon Larose. Paraguay were facing the Czech Republic in the eighth playoff in Lambare.
Sharapova, Serena Advance to Semis in China
In Beijing, Russian women tightened their grip on tennis at the China Open by grabbing three of the four semifinal spots yesterday.
Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova set up an intriguing showdown with compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova after her opponent Jelena Jankovic retired hurt with an ankle injury.
Serena Williams progressed to the last four when her opponent, Nadia Petrova, also quit with a sprained ankle. The top seed will face fourth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-3.
US Open champion Kuznetsova beat Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-2.
Looking forward to her contest with Sharapova, second seed Kuznetsova said: “It’s going to be a difficult match. Maria is playing well and so am I... it will depend on what game she plays and what I do.”
