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  • Russia vs Serbia final day preview

    2/10/08 10:46 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - Exciting and interesting Sunday awaits in Moscow. Will Djokovic and Tipsarevic play?

    Russia versus Serbia was supposed to be the most competitive tie in the World Group. Unfortunately, Marat Safin on the Russian side was found to have a tear in his calf and could not compete. Then Serbia lost Janko Tipsarevic because he injured his thigh. But the fun was not over yet. Some sort of virus infected nearly the entire Serbian team, forcing Novak Djokovic to sit out his first match. It seemed that the Russians would run away with the tie. On Saturday however, a partially recovered Novak Djokovic paired up with fellow teammate and the likewise ill Nenad Zimonjic for the doubles rubber. Against all odds, Serbia beat the healthy Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny, keeping their hopes alive.

    Sunday's final single matches are quite frankly an exercise in confusion. Viktor Troicki is officially in the line-up, but Novak Djokovic may compete for his country after all. To add to the confusion, Janko Tipsarevic was seen practicing on Saturday and Serbia's team captain Bogdan Obradovic said that there is a possibility that he will have Tipsarevic play in one of the final two rubbers. Because Russia does not know which players they will be competing against, they have yet to make a determination whether it will be Dmitry Tursunov or Mikhail Youzhny who will play on Sunday with compatriot Nikolay Davydenko.

    If Serbia's top two players are well enough to compete, Russia may very well find itself out of Davis Cup in the first round. Davydenko and Youzhny were supposed to win their matches on Friday easily - they were playing Zimonjic, who is a doubles specialist and Troicki, a player who is at an all time high ranking of 114. Neither match was a straight set victory for the Russians. Davydenko in particular has not played well and both Tipsarevic and Djokovic are quite capable of beating him. If Youzhny plays Djokovic, things could get even more interesting. The Russian has beaten Djokovic the last two times they have met. Whatever happens in this tie, there is no doubt that Sunday will be a most interesting day.

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