DUESSELDORF, Germany, 21 May 2005 — Florian Mayer brought Germany level at 1-1 with Spain yesterday to keep the host nation in contention for a place in the World Team Cup final.

Tommy Robredo edged out Tommy Haas 7-6, 6-4 to leave Germany on the brink of elimination before Mayer displayed steely-eyed determination to defeat a cramping David Ferrer 3-6, 7-6 6-3 and take the tie into a deciding doubles rubber.

The winner of the Blue Group tie will contest today’s final against favorites Argentina.

Ferrer appeared to have the match within his sights when he went to serve for the match at 5-4 in the second set but Mayer refused to cave in and the players went on to trade breaks for three successive games.

Despite being ranked 33 places below his opponent, Mayer ran the Spaniard ragged in the tiebreak to clinch it 7-3.

Ferrer never recovered from that setback and his request to receive treatment on his cramping legs at 4-2 down was greeted with loud whistles and jeers from the flag-waving German fans. The timeout did little to change Ferrer’s form, however, and he bowed out after two hours 11 minutes.

Haas will get a chance to redeem himself when he partners Alexander Waske in the doubles against Robredo and Santiago Ventura.

Earlier in the day, Haas often brought the partisan crowd to its feet with his heroics during a tight first-set tussle with Robredo.

One athletic lunge at the net, reminiscent of his more celebrated countryman Boris Becker, was greeted by loud cheers around centre court but he failed to maintain the momentum in the second set. After surrendering the tiebreak 7-4, Haas failed to keep pace with Ferrer’s baseline groundstrokes and slipped to defeat.

Sweden beat a second-string United States side 2-1 in the other Blue Group match but their tie had no bearing on the outcome of the tournament as they both lost their previous two contests.

Venus Williams, meanwhile, stepped closer to ending her yearlong title drought when she reached the final of the $200,000 inaugural Istanbul Cup with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Bulgaria’s Tszvetana Pironkova. The top-seeded American, whose sister Serena pulled out of the Paris grand slam with an ankle sprain, will meet second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, who beat third seeded Anna Smashnova of Israel 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Top Seed Dechy Ousted in Strasbourg

Top seed Nathalie Dechy of France suffered a setback ahead of next week’s French Open going out in straight sets in the semifinals of the WTA claycourt tournament yesterday to Spaniard Anabel Medina-Garrigues.

Dechy, a semifinalist in this year’s Australian Open, fell 6-4, 6-1 to 42nd-ranked Medina Garrigues, who advances to meet Poland’s Marta Domachowska in today’s final.

Earlier Domachowska eased past Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 6-3, 6-3.

Dechy had gotten off to a promising start with two breaks giving her a 4-2 lead in the first set.

But her 22-year-old Spanish opponent increased the pressure rolling off the next seven games, to wrap up the first set and take a 3-0 lead in the second. She took the tie with the loss of just one game to put her 2-2 in meetings with the Frenchwoman.