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7/10/10 1:40 AM | Ricky Dimon
Michael Llodra gets the best of Fernando Verdasco in four sets on Friday to put France in control of its Davis Cup quarterfinal tie against Spain. France leads the defending champions 2-0.
Two-time defending champion Spain is on the brink of Davis Cup elimination after Fernando Verdasco fell to Michael Llodra 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in quarterfinal action on Friday evening in Clermont-Ferrand.
Both of the Day 1 rubbers were hotly-contested, but the hosts came out on top each time. Gael Monfils needed almost four hours to dispatch David Ferrer in five sets, then Llodra defeated Verdasco in three hours and 25 minutes.
Llodra was dominant on serve from start to finish, even during the set that he lost to fall into an early hole. The 35th-ranked Frenchman faced no break points in the opening frame of play, but Verdasco forced a tiebreaker and won it seven points to five.Verdasco lost a set point on his own serve at 6-4, but a return winner gave him the crucial advantage.
With a raucous crowd behind him, Llodra stole the momentum swiftly and decisively. He never dropped serve while needing to save only one break point in sets two and three combined. A break in the first game of the second and in the third game of set three were enough for Llodra to seize a two-sets-to-one lead. For good measure, the big-serving lefty broke again at 5-3 in the third and thus started the fourth set with service.
Llodra appeared to be rolling for victory when he broke Verdasco in the second game of the fourth set. Almost out of nowhere at 4-2, however, Llodra dropped serve thanks to a pair of errors (including one double-fault) and two Verdasco winners. A tiebreaker eventually had to decide things, and Llodra's serve again proved to be the difference. He finished it off at 6-2 with a final service winner.
Said Llodra: "I only won one Davis Cup singles match and that was away but today, with all the support they gave me, and a lot of support at the end, it helped me a lot."
"As you can imagine, I am very, very happy and very satisfied and pleased with the way those two guys played," added captain Guy Forget of Monfils and Llodra. "It was tremendous tennis."
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