Spain won the Davis Cup on Sunday with a decisive 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic with singles wins by Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. Nadal won the first matchup with Tomas Berdych on Friday, and Ferrer won a 5-set victory over Radek Stepanek which upped Spain's Friday lead to 2-0.
The Czech Republic tried to rally after Friday's losses by 465th-ranked Dlouhy and 102nd-ranked Hajek by replacing them in the doubles match. Hajek's 1 for 1 on doubles and Dlouhy has yet to play a doubles match at the Davis Cup. They were replaced with Stepanek and Berdych who both came from singles losses on Friday. But the two are 5-0 in doubles, so captain Jaroslav Navratil hoped that record would see them victorious. This was the match they had to win to stay in the race for the Cup.
The last team to turn it around and win after being down 2 matches was Australia in 1939, which shows just how tough that deficit is to overcome. That 70-year record still stands, as Spain won the Cup after the doubles win on Saturday. Verdasco, coming off 3 losses in London a week ago pulled it off with Lopez, bringing in Spain's victory in the doubles match and the Cup.
Spain has won the Davis Cup 4 times in 9 years, but this victory marked the second in a row, something that hasn't happened since Sweden won the Cup 2 years in a row in 1998. Spain also matched another Swedish move, by successfully having the only 5-0 score since the Swedes managed it against the United States in 1997, the first year of their 2-year streak.
The victory was no surprise on Sunday at the Palau Sant Jordi, when Spain earned 3-0 in the doubles match on Saturday, making them unbeatable. After the doubles victory there was little suspense about the winner on Sunday, but there was suspense about whether or not Spain could shut out the Czech Republic. The wins by Spain on Sunday weren't sweeps, but close matches, with Nadal defeating Jan Hajek 6-3 6-4 and Ferrer defeating Lukas Dlouhy 6-4 6-02.
The second-ranked Nadal, who's won the French Open 4 times, came to the first match of the Davis Cup off 4 losses in a row, with 3 of those at the ATP World Finals just last week. But the Palau Sant Jordi's clay court is Nadal's favorite, and he said he hadn't been at 100% but was coming into the Cup tournament at 100%. Before the tournament he boasted an impressive 10-0 on clay in singles matches, and won the last 4 matchups with Berdych. Now he sits at 12-0.
About 16,000 fans showed up on Sunday to watch the final matches. Spain's next challenge comes in March when they go up against Switzerland, which might be headed up by Roger Federer. Federer won the ATP World Finals last weekend, and is the top ranked tennis player in the world.
Photo Credits: alekspression
Related Posts -
Baghdatis Takes Title in Stockholm ATP World Tour Tournament In Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis managed to take his first title in the ATP World Tour since February of 2007, after having defeated Oliver Rochus from Belgium with 6 - 1, 7 - 5 during the If Stockholm Open during Sunday. He has become the tenth unseeded winner to claim...... -
Wimbledon Recap This week in tennis featured the start of Wimbledon, one of the biggest championships of the year. All of the biggest names in Tennis are featured in this yearâs Wimbledon, with some expected and predictable rankings. The top 5 seeds in the Menâs Draw are as follows: (1) Roger Federer,...... -
ATP World Tour Finals: Nikolay Davydenko, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro At the ATP World Finals, Roger Federer is now ranked 1 in the sport for the 5th time. He's one away from tying Pete Sampras' record of 6 number one spots. He won that trophy at the ATP World Tour Finals in London at the O2 Arena on Wednesday, but...... -
Davis Cup, Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Collector Swedish Open The week following Wimbledon was still relatively busy, featuring multiple menâs and womenâs tournaments with few big-name players. The men were busy with the Davis Cup and the Campbellâs Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, while the women battled it out in the Collector Swedish Open. The Davis Cup Quarterfinals brought...... -
Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Rogers Cup This week in tennis featured one tournament each for both the men and the women, with both ending approximately a week before the start of the US Open. The men competed in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, a Masters 1000 tournament held in Cincinnati, Ohio. The women competed......
Related Websites -
Golf Preview: The Tour Championship 2009 The tour championship field has been finalized finally after some dramatic Sunday play at Cog Hill this weekend. John Senden managed to secure the final spot, the 30th spot, which is for this Tour Championship, which gave him at least somewhat of a chance of winning the $10 million dollar...... -
The Byron Nelson Championship (Irving, Texas 2010) The Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas captured the attention of the nation as 16-year-old Jordan Spieth worked attempted to become the youngest player to win a PGA tour championship. The headlines come Sunday were different, however, as 22 year old Jason Day captured the Byron Nelson championship. Day of...... -
Turning Stone's Fourth Round Wrap Up It's been a pretty long time since we saw Matt Kuchar winning anything during the PGA Tour. It is because of this that we are not surprised he had a serious case of nerves when he ended up in a sudden death playoff during the fourth round of the Turning...... -
O’Meara/Price Team Wins Legends The Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament ended on Sunday at the second hole in a playoff with Mark O’Meara and Nick Price defeating John Cook and Joey Sindelar. It marks O’Meara’s first win on the Champions Tour. He’s come in second several times, but has never won the top...... -
St. Jude Classic Recap The final round of the St. Jude Classic, presented by FexEx, was delayed for a total of four hours because of some unexpected rain. The fourth round began finally at 11 o'clock am, with players who were separated into groups of three going off of both tee 1 and tee......
- Spain Flags & Flagpoles Garden Decor Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living
- Unknown Date Ornaments: by Year Hallmark Decorative Collectible Brands Decorative Collectibles Collectibles
- Banana Republic Men Discount Fragrances Store
- Victory Plaques & Signs Garden Decor Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living
- 2000-2005 Ornaments: by Year Hallmark Decorative Collectible Brands Decorative Collectibles Collectibles
Categories:
News, Tennis, Tournaments and Championships
Tags:
0 comments ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment