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2/10/12 6:55 PM | Ricky Dimon
Juan Carlos Ferrero holds off Mikhail Kukushkin in five sets to win the opening singles rubber between Spain and Kazakhstan. The defending Davis Cup champions lead 1-0 after Friday's first match.
Spain's first Davis Cup rubber of the 2012 season suggests that life will be more difficult for the new-look squad, but it also shows that the result may be the same.
The defending champions are ahead of Kazakhstan 1-0 after Juan Carlos Ferrero outlasted Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4 on Friday afternoon. Ferrero needed four hours and 28 minutes to put the host nation on the scoreboard.
Inspired by the home crowd and playing on his favorite surface, Ferrero gave Kukushkin a clay-court lesson in the first set. The 32-year-old required only one break because he saved all three of the break points he faced, but he added a second for good measure before serving it out at 5-1.
Kukushkin steadied himself the rest of the way to push this rubber the distance. The world No. 61 won two of the next three sets, dropping only the third frame in a tiebreaker. He bounced right back with a quick break in the fourth and consolidated it from there without facing a break point.
With momentum in hand and his opponent taking injury timeouts for a thigh issue, Kukushkin broke quickly in the fifth and seemed to be on his way to a crucial road victory. Instead, Ferrero recovered and got back on serve with a break for 3-3. The Spaniard's seventh break of the day came when it mattered most, at 5-4 to clinch the victory.
Ferrero finished with only two aces but he did not double-fault the entire match. Kukushkin recorded 13 aces and seven doubles.
Next up for the home team is Nicolas Almagro, who will take on Andrey Golubev. Spain is without Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, who played a crucial role in the 2011 triumph but are taking a break from Davis Cup in this Olympic season.
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