James Ward came back for from 2 sets to one down to win the tie for team GB. After Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming won the doubles the day before (6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4) team GB knew they had to win one of the two singles ties to win this rubber.
The first set was an nervy start by James Ward as he struggled for any rhythm. Jaziri started off brightly and was pumped for this match. He knew he had to win and was determined to lead from the front. He showed the innitional fight and won the 1st set 6-3. James Ward had some fight in him and responded really well as he came back to win the second set 6-3. He showed some grit and determination to get back. The crowd were really involved into this match. The third set Jaziri started the better. He took an early break and Ward couldnt get into the Jaziri serve and he went on to win 6-3. Ward was then a break down in the 4th set as it looked to be going to an 5th rubber but Ward played surperbly as he fought back again to take it 6-3 and went to an decider.
The decider was an very nervy set of tennis. As the games went on both players were making mistakes. Ward made the first major mistake as he handed the break in the 6th game an double-fault and and an unforced error. Jaziri then returned the favor as he had an poor service game and Ward broke straight back. In the 13th game Ward finally went ahead in the match as Jaziri netted an forehand. He had a tough serve out for the match as Jaziri had an break back opportunity and he won it when Jaziri hit another forehand to the net and he won an incredible match. The final score was 3-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 8-6. Team GB rounded off an good victory with victory in the dead rubber tie where Baker won 6-1 6-4 against Slim Hamza to give Britain the tie 4-1. Team GB will be playing Luxembourg in the playoff. If they win that they will be back in the Euro/Africa Zone Group I which is the league just below the world group. The team captain Leon Smith is likely to have Andy Murray back for that match as well they will fancy there chances.
These are the World Group scores in the Davis Cup.
WORLD GROUP 1st ROUND
Serbia 4-1 India
Sweden 3-2 Russia
Czech Republic 2-3 Kazakhstan
Argentina 4-1 Romania
Chile 1-4 USA
Belgium 1-4 Spain
Croatia 2-3 Germany
Austria 2-3 France
The defending Champions Serbia and the losing finalists France are through to the next round. While the USA came away with an impressive victory on clay against Chile while the shocks of this round are Kazakhstan going away to the Czech Republic and winning and Sweden knocking out Russia. There were also wins for Spain, Argentina and Germany.
Quarter Final draw
Serbia vs Sweden
USA vs Spain
Germany vs France
Argentina vs Kazakhstan
No comments:
Post a Comment