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2/9/08 9:55 AM | Ricky Dimon
The dynamic duo of Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave France a commanding 2-0 lead over the host Romanians after the first day of singles rubbers in the opening round of the 2008 Davis Cup on Friday in Sibiu, Romania. France is now just one point away from clinching the tie and a berth in the quarterfinals, where it could potentially meet the defending champion United States, which currently leads Austria 2-0.
Gasquet, No. 7 in the world, put France on the scoreboard with a 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-5 win over 76th-ranked Victor Hanescu in the first singles rubber. Both players came out firing and traded early breaks of serve in the first set. The Frenchman, who ended up taking the set in a tiebreaker seven points to five, blasted 24 winners in the first frame of player while Hanescu fired 20 winners past his opponent.
“The first set was very important. It was really close, and had I lost it could have been a different story” said Gasquet. “I don’t know if I played a good match or not, and it doesn’t really matter. The most important was to win.”
Gasquet played good enough to win, but his level definitely dropped in the second and third sets. He benefitted, however, from the fact that Hanescu’s form also began to deteriorate. The Frenchman’s serve percentage plummeted after the opening set, but Hanescu was unable to take advantage and Gasquet was not broken a single time in the final two sets. One break in each of the last two frames was enough for Gasquet to cruise to a straight-set victory in relatively comfortable fashion.
Not surprisingly, Davis Cup rookie Jo-Wilfried started off his second singles rubber against Andrei Pavel feeling the pressure. Neither player could break serve in the first set and the veteran Romanian was much stronger in the tiebreaker, taking it 7-2 to establish a 1-0 advantage. The Australian Open runner-up, however, bounced back immediately to break Pavel in the opening game of the second set. Tsonga never looked back. He took the next three sets all by a 6-4 margin. Pavel never broke serve once throughout the entire match and Tsonga did a great job of minimizing his unforced errors after the first set despite maintaining an aggressive, winner-filled style of play.
Tsonga is scheduled to square off against Hanescu in a potentially pivotal fifth rubber, while Gasquet and Pavel are paired up in Sunday’s first singles match. All of that could change if France secures a third point on Saturday from its formidable doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. The 2008 Australian Open runner-ups will go up against Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau.
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RafaNadalGirl20, Aug 29, 2008 7:35 PM
RickyDimon, Aug 29, 2008 3:08 PM
agf25agf, Aug 28, 2008 1:21 PM
cherylmurray, Aug 27, 2008 3:10 PM
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