World Tennis News – Spain and Czech Republic into Davis Cup Final

Spain sees off USA on home soil

Reigning Davis Cup champions Spain defeated the USA 3-1 on the clay courts at Gijon, northern Spain, to reach their seventh Davis Cup final in the last 12 years.

In the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal; the Spanish were led by World No.5 David Ferrer and the 30 year-old rose to the occasion with a pair of impressive performances.

On day one Ferrer came from a set down defeat Sam Querrey in four sets before Nicolas Almagro won a five set thriller against John Isner 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to give the hosts a strong 2-0 lead.

Olympic and US Open champions the Bryan Brothers gave the visitors hope with a four set win over Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in the doubles rubber.

In the battle of the No.1 players on day three it was Ferrer who came through impressively from a set down against Isner to win 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and claim overall for the five-time champions.

Stat Attack – Spain

• Spain now lead the USA 6-5 in Davis Cup meetings and lead 4-1 on clay with their only loss coming in 1972 when Wimbledon Champion Stan Smith lead the USA to a 3-2 win
•  The Spanish will aim to win a fourth title in five years when they play the Czech Republic in December – the USA were the last nation to achieve such dominance winning in 1978-79 and 1981-82

Stat Attack – USA

• The USA have won the Davis Cup on 32 occasions, the most recent success in 2007, but were aiming to reach just their third final since 1997

Berdych leads Czechs to victory in Buenos Aires

World No.6 Tomas Berdych won all three points as the Czech Republic defeated Argentina 3-2 away in Buenos Aires to reach their fourth Davis Cup final.

The score was 1-1 after the first day’s action in the Argentinean capital as World No.8 Juan Martin Del Potro, despite an injured left wrist, comfortably saw off Radek Stepanek in straight sets, before Berdych came from behind to complete a gripping 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Juan Monaco.  

Berdych and Stepanek teamed up for a straightforward doubles victory over Eduardo Schwank and Carlos Berlocq to give the visitors the lead heading into the final day.

With Del Potro sidelined on day three; Berdych swept past Berlocq 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 completing the win for the 1980 champions with a trademark forehand winner thumped down the line.

The Czechs play host to Spain in December's final, a repeat of the 2009 final which the Spaniards won 5-0 in Barcelona.

Stat Attack – Czech Republic

• Playing as Czechoslovakia; the Czech’s lifted their only Davis Cup title in 1980 with a 4-1 home victory against Italy as Ivan Lendl contributed three victories
• 26 year-old Berdych made his Davis Cup debut against Thailand in 2003 and has complied an overall win-loss record of 33-12

Stat Attack – Argentina

• The Argentineans had won 17 consecutive home ties on clay since falling to the Slovak Republic in the 1998 World Group play-offs

World Group Play-offs

World No.1 Roger Federer led Switzerland to a 3-2 away win over the Netherlands on clay to keep the Swiss team in the Davis Cup World Group for 2013.

There were also play-off victories for Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and Kazakhstan.

Begu seals Tashkent title glory

Irina-Camelia Begu won the Tashkent Open with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Croatian teenager Donna Vekic to lift her first WTA singles title.

The unseeded Romanian, WTA Newcomer of the year in 2011, had taken out three seeds en route to her third career final. In the quarter finals Begu was two points from defeat trailing 2-5 in the third set against Galina Voskoboeva. 

16 year-old Vekic had a stunning run to qualify and reach the final of her first WTA main draw event. In the final the youngster put in a strong performance against Begu.

Begu gained a crucial break of serve in the seventh game to take the opening set and the broke in the opening game of the second set. Vekic fought back to level at 4-4 but Begu struck straight back and sealed victory after an hour and 19 minutes.

Stat Attack – Begu

• The Romanian had lost both her previous WTA singles finals at Marbella and Budapest in 2011
• Begu took a set off World No.1 Victoria Azarenka at the Olympics before achieving her first top 10 win against Caroline Wozniacki at the US Open

Stat Attack – Vekic

• Vekic was the youngest player to reach a WTA final for six years since Tamira Paszek won Portoroz aged 15 in September 2006 

Flipkens completes dream week in Quebec

Kirsten Flipkens defeated Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 7-5 to win her first WTA singles title in style at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City .

The unseeded Belgian took out three seeds during the week, including a first round upset of top seed Dominika Cibulkova after the World No.13 had served for the match.

In the final Flipkens raced into a 4-0 lead, lost serve, but broke Hradecka again to take a commanding lead.

In a much tighter second set the first ten games went with serve before Flipkens gained the crucial break at 5-5. The 26 year-old converted her third match point in the twelfth game to win in 69 minutes.

Stat Attack – Flipkens

• Flipkens moves up 33 places in this week’s WTA rankings from 102 to 69. She achieved her career high ranking of 59 in June 2010
• The Belgian achieved her first top 10 victory against Sam Stosur at ‘s-Hertogenbosch before Wimbledon

Stat Attack – Hradecka

• The Czech falls to a 0-5 record in WTA singles finals, winning a set on only one occasion