DUESSELDORF, Germany, 17 May 2005 — French Open finalists Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria gave title favorites Argentina a commanding start to the World Team Cup with a 2-1 victory over France yesterday.
Roland Garros champion Gaudio overcame Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-4, while Coria was even more impressive in his brisk 6-1, 6-4 workout against Michael Llodra.
With just a week to go before Gaudio begins the defense of his French crown, the Argentine showed his class on the surface by running Clement ragged.
French No. 1 Sebastien Grosjean was forced to withdraw from the match with a knee injury and his replacement never looked like he could wrest control from Gaudio.
With glorious sunshine replacing Sunday’s damp conditions, world No. 6 Gaudio clinched a break in the seventh game of the second set before wrapping up victory in the Red Group. Despite the win, Gaudio was critical of his performance. The French pair then joined forces and prevented an Argentine rout with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Guillermo Canas and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Chile, looking to become the first nation to win the competition three years running, lead the group on a better games won-lost difference after beating wildcard the Czech Republic 2-1 on the opening day of the tournament.
In the Blue Group, Spain clinched a 2-1 advantage over Sweden when Tommy Robredo and Santiago Ventura won the doubles in the only tie to go down to the final rubber so far in the competition. Thomas Johansson survived a tight first set before handing Sweden the opening point with a 7-6, 6-1 triumph over Robredo.
The Swedes were also struck by injury problems as their No. 1 Joachim Johansson opted to miss yesterday’s match to protect a strained hamstring on his right thigh.
Doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman stepped in as a late substitute but went down 6-4, 6-0 against David Ferrer to leave the tie evenly poised.
However, Bjorkman failed to make his doubles expertise count as he and Johansson were edged out 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 by Robredo and Santiago Ventura. Host nation Germany lead the Blue Group after inflicting a 2-1 defeat on an under strength United States team.
The eight countries play in two round-robin groups of four teams each. The top nation in each group will progress to Sunday’s final.
In other ATP action, top-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko beat Michal Mertinak of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the St. Poelten Grand Prix in Austria. On the women’s tour, top seed Venus Williams is waiting to get her feet stuck into clay in the Istanbul Cup where she has a bye into the second round.
