MELBOURNE, 10 April 2006 — Australia finished off a 5-0 Davis Cup demolition job yesterday over outmatched Belarus while Russia stretched its superiority to knock out France in a third consecutive match-up in their quarterfinal.
In Pau, Russia nailed down a place in the last four as injury substitute Dmitri Tursunov overcame Richard Gasquet 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-5. The Russians face the winner from the US-Chile tie being played in California with the US ahead 2-1. Tursunov, ranked 33rd, handed the visitors 3-1 control of the tie as he broke Gasquet in the 11th game of the final set; it was the first French defeat at Pau in five ties.
“It would have been tougher, but I was able to serve well,” said the California-based winner.
Russia have now beaten France at the 2002 final in Paris plus at last year’s quarterfinals. Holder Croatia stood 2-2 with Argentina in Zagreb after playing captain Ivan Ljubicic carved up David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Untested Sasa Tuksar was aiming to become his nation’s newest tennis hero as he placed Juan Chela in the deciding fifth rubber.
In Melbourne, Australia pushed through the last two singles rubbers at Kooyong club with Wayne Arthurs replacing Lleyton Hewitt in a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 defeat of Serguei Tarasevitch while Chris Guccione’s stock soared even higher with a 6-1, 6-3 win over teenaged debutant Alexandr Zotov.
Coach John Fitzgerald was accentuating the positive after his team rolled through to the final four in the worldwide competition — adding that he would wake up today to learn the results of Croatia vs. Argentina.
Petrova Sets Up Schiavone Clash at Amelia Island
In New York, top seed Nadia Petrova advanced to the final of the Amelia Island Tournament on Saturday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over 15th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
The Russian fired five aces and dominated most of the match, hitting twice as many winners in securing her 22nd victory of the year as she looks to win her second title of the season. She will meet Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in the final after the third seed progressed when Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova retired from their semifinal with a groin injury. Schiavone was leading the match 7-6 (7-2), 3-2 when the fifth seed called her trainer for the second time in the match and then retired. Petrova got her first serve in nearly 80 percent of the time and kept Safarova off balance for most of the match.
“I just took everything into my hands,” Petrova told reporters.
