Whirlwind Roddick sends United States into semifinals
PARIS, April 12: Whirlwind Andy Roddick sent down a world record serve on match point to clinch victory for the United States over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on Sunday and into a last four showdown against little Belarus.
US Open winner Roddick beat Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-0 at Delray Beach in Florida to seal America's spot in the semi-finals winning in style by hitting a 152mph serve on the final point of the rubber - bettering his previous best of 150mph.
Astonishingly, Bjorkman returned the serve but later in the rally netted a backhand to give the United States an unassailable 3-1 lead. "The last set was one of the best sets I've ever played," Roddick said.
The US will now take on Belarus on home turf in September while France and Spain will play the other semi-final. Nicolas Escude won the final rubber in Lausanne to give the French a 3-2 win over Switzerland while Juan Carlos Ferrero came back from two sets to one down to repeat his 2003 French Open final win against Martin Verkerk as Spain defeated the Netherlands.
France were in debt to Escude who beat Michel Kratochvil 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) in the deciding rubber. Despite the victory, France coach Guy Forget believes the semi-final on Spanish clay will be a tougher proposition.
"We need someone to win the French Open and not let one of the Spaniards win again," said Forget. World No. 1 Roger Federer had levelled the scores at 2-2 defeating Arnaud Clement 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, but once again Swizerland's lack of a reliable partner for Federer let the side down.
Federer had opened the tie on Friday with a straight sets win over Escude, after which Clement levelled against outgunned Ivo Heuberger. The French pair of Escude and Mikael Llodra won the doubles in four sets Saturday against Federer and Yves Allegro to put their side 2-1 up.
France will now travel to Spain for the semi-final to be played September 24-26, looking to beat their neighbours for the first time in the tournament since 1923. In Mallorca, Ferrero battled back from two sets to one down to beat Verkerk and lead Spain into the semi-finals.
Ferrero beat big-serving Verkerk 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 but only after the brave Dutchman had gone to enormous lengths to bring his country back into the tie. "The Dutch are a great team," said Spanish captain Jordi Arrese. "We can be happy that we have a team like ours good enough to beat them."
The Dutch had been trailing 2-0 after Friday's opening singles and were staring at defeat on Saturday when their doubles team of Verkerk and John van Lottum were down two sets to one.
However, rain meant a suspension until Sunday and they seized their opportunity to beat Tommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. After a brief rest, Verkerk returned to the court to face his French Open conqueror but eventually fatigue told.
Carlos Moya then defeated Sjeng Schalken in straight sets for a 4-1 margin. It was too much of an effort," admitted Verkerk. "I was tired because of the doubles. It's a shame."
Belarus completed a 5-0 clean sweep over Argentina in Minsk with Max Mirnyi beating Lucas Arnold 6-1, 6-2 while Vladimir Voltchkov came back from a set down to beat Juan Monaco 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. -AFP
