DUSSELDORF, Germany, 18 May 2005 — Holders Chile and favourites Argentina are to face off for a spot in the final of the 1,850,000 euro ($2,367,500) ATP world team tournament after winning their respective matches against France and the Czech Republic yesterday.
Chile are bidding to become the first nation to win this tournament three years in a row and were in fine form once again triumphing 2-1 in their match with France.
Nicolas Massu, who won the title with Chile last year, defeated French opponent Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-4 to put Chile on the road to victory. Fernando Gonzalez then completed the job by defeating France’s top-ranked player Sebastien Grosjean by the same scoreline.
Gonzalez, 24, has now won 15th consecutive matches in this competition and will hope to continue that run and help Chile into Saturday’s final.
“I always seem to play well here,” admitted Gonzalez. “Argentina are the favorites if you look at the rankings but I am playing well and so is Nicolas (Massu) so it should be tight.”
South American neighbors Argentina stand in their way and on paper the 2002 winners are the strongest team in the tournament with French Open finalists Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria spearheading a formidable attack. “Both teams play similar tennis and there will be some interesting matches,” promised Coria. “I would not say there is a South American rivalry but both teams will be determined to win.”
Roland Garros runner-up Coria triumphed 6-3, 7-5 over experienced Czech Jiri Novak to put Argentina 1-0 up and the South American ace believes his game is coming together for the French Open.
“I like playing here and I hope it can help me on my way to winning in Paris,” said Coria. “However, I was a bit unhappy about the surface today as it was quite dangerous. Behind the baseline it was uneven which made it very difficult at times.”
Argentina demonstrated their strength in depth by resting French Open champion Gaudio for the second singles match against Czech starlet Tomas Berdych. World No. 10 Guillermo Canas was Gaudio’s replacement and he made light work of dismissing 19-year-old Berdych 6-4, 6-2 to clinch a 2-0 victory for Argentina.
Argentina and Chile are joint leaders of the red group with two wins apiece but only one nation can reach Saturday’s final where they will face the winner of the blue group.
Both countries have won all four of their singles matches — without dropping a set — setting up an intriguing battle for a place in the final. Hosts Germany and Spain lead the blue group after respective wins over the United States and Sweden.
Today Germany play Sweden while Spain face the United States.
