Image is Everything: D Cup Quarter-finals

Because nothing generates quite so much fantastic photoage as Davis Cup. You know it to be true.

sorry but ive to say i fcking won davis cup!omg

Pretty sure I could snap him like a twig. A twig.

Marin’s left arm makes a desperate bid for freedom.

Get the man a Big Mac, a big drink and a big vuvuzela.

“Did I leave the gas on …?”

This is not the face I’ve missed.

This is the face I’ve missed.

Put it away, Nole. Or I will come to Serbia and show you where to … never mind.

“Mr. President. What the hell.”

Nothing beats a good old-fashioned Serbian love huddle.

Eduardo Schwank looking in no way ridiculous.

Eduardo Schwank being no way ridiculous.

Kind of impossible to dislike Gael when he finds himself on this planet long enough to win a big match.

Tipsy wants a cuddle. No-one on this earth can blame him.

They shoot horses, don’t they?

Premature celebrating.

Yeah, Youzh better run.

Having beaten Spain at tennis, France take them on at the art of the manly hug. And win.

Have him caramelised and sent to my room.

Nole Major and Nole Minor.

Look who showed up to ‘help’.

“I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the woods …”

Kolya contemplates the many tragedies of life.

Shamil contemplates finding another job.

You’re not helping.

Homoerotic celebrations: must try harder.

D Cup: Russia 2 – 3 Argentina

Yes, you read that right. Argentina, without their #1 and #2 players Delpo and Pico, are in the Davis Cup semi-finals. How did that happen? Five words: Gervasio Esteban David Ezequiel Nalbandian.

A legend in his own lunchtime.

With no realistic chance of Mayer or Schwank winning a singles point for Argentina, this tie was always going to rest on David’s broad shoulders, and I didn’t think he could do it. Who did think he could do it? He hasn’t played since Monte Carlo, for god’s sake. How could he possibly turn up and beat Davydenko and Youzhny?

By being David Nalbandian, that’s how.

No, seriously, Kolya was looking pretty rusty in Friday’s match and although it wasn’t the highest quality from either player, David’s willingness to be aggressive really made the difference. It was nervy, with lots of breaks and rebreaks, and Kolya had plenty of opportunities to find his feet, including an early break in the first, serving for the second and breaking David’s serve when he was serving for the match, and then having two set points in the third. Still, David pulled off some amazing shots when he had to, kept taking risks and it paid off. Never one to mince words, he called the performance a ‘disaster‘ afterwards, but honestly I thought it was pretty incredible given his lack of matches in the past, well, year.

Tito approves.

Sadly Horseface had a ‘mare against Youzhny, evening the tie at 1-1. Tito decided (wisely, as it transpired) to rest Nalbandian and tapped Zeballos and Schwank for the doubles against the seemingly-dead-on-their-feet Kolya and Kunitsyn. I had my doubts about Horacio reproducing the doubles form he showed with Nalbandian against Sweden, especially without an old hand by his side, but I was so wrong. He was absolutely brilliant for almost the entire match, kept Schwank going and with the exception of one small wobble was the better half of the better team. Well deserved win.

With Schwank as expected unable to do much against Kolya in the fourth rubber, it all came down to a live fifth between Youzhny and Nalbandian. I thought this would go to a headcasey five with David running out of legs. I was so happy to be wrong.

David was, and I’m sorry to be repeating myself here, quite brilliant. OK, the first set was edgy and the second set maybe even more so, but David kept himself in it with great serving and huge returns, almost visibly growing in confidence so that the third set was almost a foregone conclusion. You could almost see Nalbandian at something like his best resurfacing, with that laser-like backhand and assurance at net that he never gets enough credit for. Sigh. I am a fangirl today.

Nalbandian seemed almost incredulous to have won and played so well, and frankly, so was I. After such a protracted absence from the tour and his many aborted attempts to return, to show up and do what he did in a situation like that is both staggering and indicative of the fact that Davis Cup brings out the best in David Nalbandian.

Now please please please bring some of this to the tour.

So Argentina, wildly unfancied (well not strictly unfancied, but you know what I mean), are in the semi-finals where they’ll face France away in September (which Pico should be back for). Amazing stuff. Drinks all round.

R1 – D.NALBANDIAN (ARG) def. N.DAVYDENKO (RUS)
6-4  7-6(5)  7-6(6)
R2 – M.YOUZHNY (RUS) def. L.MAYER (ARG)
6-3  6-1  6-4
R3 – E.SCHWANK / H.ZEBALLOS (ARG) def. N.DAVYDENKO / I.KUNITSYN (RUS)
7-6(7)  6-4  6-7(3)  6-1
R4 – N.DAVYDENKO (RUS) def. E.SCHWANK (ARG)
4-6  6-3  6-1  6-4
R5 – D.NALBANDIAN (ARG) def. M.YOUZHNY (RUS)
7-6(5)  6-4  6-3

By the way, as usual VamosDavid have match reports, highlights, quotes and all sorts. Check it out.

Hand of David.

Let’s see how Argentina’s Davis Cup squad are preparing for this weekend’s tie against Russia, shall we?

Actual training footage.

Let’s not lie, the Argies are up against it and unsurprisingly much of the focus is on whether David ‘El Rey’ Nalbandian, the bad daddy of Davis Cup, can pull off another amazing rescue. Except this time he hasn’t played since Monte-Carlo and will have to face Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny and probably play the doubles as well.

Quietly confident, I assure you.

Anyway. Let’s all look at pictures of the Argies. Quick, before they start having to cry and recriminate.

Fine body of men.

If nothing else, he’s improving his fanboying immensely.

I swear to god, I just want to stick my face in his stomach and keep it there for an hour or so. In other news, here’s some words he said.

Bonus peeled Onion in video form:

Heading to the official dinner.

David does some practice in between sledging with Safin.

And the boys doing some serious physical work (David’s reaction at the end killed me):

As usual, I can only recommend you visit the amazing VamosDavid, who do a great job covering these ties. I’ll just be over there, looking at this photo and sighing a lot.

Argentina Win Wrong World Cup

Team Argentina, led by Pico and Horacio Zeballos, won the ARAG World Team Championship in Dusseldorf at the weekend. OK, so it’s not the Davis Cup, and it’s a made-up thing that defies all reason and logic, but still, it’s rough times for the Argy-lovers among us. We’ll take it.

Anyway, I like the celebrations.

ATP: Ignoring Dusseldorf

Judging on Nice, the men aren’t too much more stable this week than the women. The only seed living up to his obligations is Fernando Verdasco, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 64 in the third to set up a semi-final with Horseface, who scored an excellent and scandalously unphotographed win against Baggy. On the other side of the draw, it’s a semi-hilarious semi with Gasquet against Potito Starace – the man, the myth, the name – who beat Gael Monfils in straight sets.

Deal with that for a minute.

I’m not even going to pretend to understand what’s happening in Dusseldorf. Just have a picture of Pico and the Onion.

See? Two Argies, only one visible bandage, and no signs of imminent withdrawal/collapse. I told you this tournament makes no sense.

Stan’s the Man, Sam Not So Much

Stanislas Wawrinka d. Victor Hanescu, 62 63

If you like that sort of thing.

Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet teamed up last week to make a fool of me, with Gasquet losing a three-set quarterfinal to Victor Hanescu when I picked him for the title and Stan crushing Hanescu in the final when I specifically didn’t. Ah well. Can’t win any of them them all. Well done to Stan.

Speaking of Hanescu, I found his unrelentingly serious ATP Uncovered adorable:

Juan Ignacio Chela d. Sam Querrey, 57 64 63

Hmmm. I know I had a pretty busy weekend, what with inventing sci-fi themed cocktails and trying to keep my unco-operative cat alive and everything, but … Chela? Winning? Is that still a thing? Was that ever a thing? I rather thought Sam Querrey had this one sewn up after he finally defeated everybody’s least favourite player, Wayne Odesnik, in the semis:

Querrey reportedly said “I refuse to lose to that guy”, and refuse to lose he did. So … what happened in the final? Anyone?

All joking aside, that’s a startlingly good run from Chela. A cursory glance at his playing record suggests that the last time he won consecutive main draw matches was in Kitzbuhel last year. So something major must have been working for him this week.

Meanwhile, props to another Argy, Horacio Zeballos, for reaching the semi-finals and defeating Gonzo along the way:

Love it.

Casablanca et al: Thursday’s Results, Friday’s OOP

The (mildly hilarious) shock of the day has to be Kim Clijsters losing to 258th-ranked Spanish qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany, who is playing her first WTA tour tournament ever – so that consistency thing remains a work in progress, eh, Kim? Simona Halep had another good win, this time over the slumping Sorana Cirstea, and lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko is making the best of things in Ponte Vedra Beach. On the men’s side, Stan Wawrinka survived a bagel from a qualifier and Official NB Pick For Casablanca Champion Richard Gasquet put in another crushing win. Lleyton Hewitt was not so rusty in his first match back after hip surgery, and Zeballos and Gonzo will be playing in a frankly hot quarterfinal. That is all.

Full Results – ATP

Casablanca

Singles – Second Round
[1] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] M Klizan (SVK) 64 06 64
[3] V Hanescu (ROU) d [Q] J Nieminen (FIN) 26 63 62
[WC] R El Amrani (MAR) d J Hajek (CZE) 63 26 62
R Gasquet (FRA) d A Golubev (KAZ) 61 61

Doubles – Semi-finals
[3] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d [2] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) 64 63
R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) 63 64

Houston

Singles – Second Round
[1] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] K Anderson (RSA) 64 46 64
X Malisse (BEL) d [2] J Isner (USA) 76(3) 67(7) 76(3)
[3] S Querrey (USA) d B Kavcic (SLO) 62 61
[4] [WC] L Hewitt (AUS) d [LL] S Devvarman (IND) 16 60 76(2)
[6] H Zeballos (ARG) d D Sela (ISR) 63 62
W Odesnik (USA) d M Kukushkin (KAZ) 61 75

Doubles – Semi-finals
[3] S Huss (AUS) / W Moodie (RSA) d H Zeballos (ARG) / M Zverev (GER) 63 63

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[WC] N Healey (AUS) / L Hewitt (AUS) d D Istomin (UZB) / A Motti (ITA) 64 76(5)

WTA

Marbella

Singles – Second Round
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Estrella Cabeza Candela (ESP) 62 64
(2) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (Q) Laura Pous Tio (ESP) 62 62
(Q) Beatriz García Vidagany (ESP) d. (3/WC) Kim Clijsters (BEL) 75 46 64
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (7) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 61 76(1)
(8) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 64 76(2)
(Q) Simona Halep (ROU) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 64 76(4)

Doubles – Quarterfinals
Kondratieva/Shvedova (RUS/KAZ) d. Domínguez Lino/Parra Santonja (ESP/ESP) 60 64

Doubles – First Round
(2) Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) d. Malek/Sfar (GER/TUN) 26 75 1210

Ponte Vedra Beach

Singles – Second Round
(4) Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 63 62
(8) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 26 75 75
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (Q) Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 62 62
(LL) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Angelique Kerber (GER) 61 61

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. (WC) Cibulkova/Morita (SVK/JPN) 62 61
Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) d. Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova (GER/CZE) 63 36 108

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Gonzo’s poorly knee.

Casablanca

Houston

ORDER OF PLAY – APRIL 9, 2010
Stadium Court – Start 12:00 noon
Nicolas Massu (CHI) vs (3) Sam Querrey (USA)
(4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (CHI)
Wayne Odesnik (USA) vs Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Not Before 6 p.m.
(1) Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) vs Nathan Healey (AUS) & Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
(1) Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs (6) Horacio Zeballos (ARG)

Marbella

Centre Court (from 13.00hrs)
1. Tatjana Malek vs. Carla Suárez Navarro
2. Simona Halep vs. Flavia Pennetta
3. Victoria Azarenka vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
4. Sara Errani vs. Beatriz García Vidagany

Court 1 (NB 13.30hrs)
1. Lefèvre/Niculescu vs. Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy

Ponte Vedra Beach

Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Varvara Lepchenko vs. Olga Govortsova
2. Elena Vesnina vs. Melanie Oudin (NB 13.00hrs)
3. Aleksandra Wozniak vs. Dominika Cibulkova (NB 15.00hrs)
4. Dekmeijere/Schnyder vs. Chuang/Peng
5. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (NB 19.00hrs)

Like the Oscars, But More Meaningful

The 2010 Sony Ericsson WTA Player Awards were given out yesterday in Miami, with Serena picking up Player of the Year; Serena and Venus jointly taking Doubles Team/Fan Favourite Doubles Team of the Year; Kim Clijsters nabbing Comeback and Sportsmanship, Yanina Wickmayer taking Most Improved, Melanie Oudin Newcomer of the Year, and Elena Dementieva winning Fan Favourite Singles Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Horacio Zeballos picked up the ATP award for Breakthrough of the Year, or something along those lines. I don’t know, I just like looking at his gentle eyes.

I feel like he would gently stroke your hair. For hours. Without being asked.

D Cup: Argentina 3 – 2 Sweden

Guess who’s back.

That’s right. El Rey is in the house.

I’m still grinning like a fool about how this worked out, so can I recommend that you visit VamosDavid for their excellent match reports? I’ll  just be doing the hyperbole and silly picspams as per usual.

Now we’ve got that sorted out … The day didn’t start out too well for Argentina as Leonardo Mayer was first up against Robin Soderling, facing the difficult (and as it turned out, nigh-impossible) task of clinching the tie after the doubles left Argentina with a 2-1 lead. It didn’t work out so well.

One actually can’t blame Leo for throwing his toys out of the pram. I thought he played really well and kept the match very close as the scoreline shows. That said, the gulf in class clearly showed in key moments, and Robin was really impressive despite carrying the burden of keeping the tie alive. He’s turning into a great Davis Cup player and it’s a shame in some ways that he doesn’t really have anyone to back him up.

But you couldn’t fault Leo for effort. He was virtually crying as Robin served the match out in emphatic style, and left the court broken-hearted – without even any shirtless cuddling to make him (and us) feel better.

So that left the tie poised at 2-2 with one match to decide two nation’s fates. A tricky situation, delicately balanced between triumph and disaster, agony and elation. The kind of moment when you really need someone to step up and be the hero, someone who’s done it all before, who knows what it’s like to win and lose big, someone capable of bringing a bit of class and magic to the court … someone, not to put too fine a point on it, not Eduardo Schwank.

Well hello there.

It wasn’t, to be frank, Nalbandian’s best performance. Apparently he only decided ten minutes before the match that he was actually going to play, having felt some pain after the doubles yesterday, and he started off distinctly rusty and seemingly unsure of his tactics. Vinciguerra, in fact, missed several opportunities to impose himself at the beginning of the match which could have changed the course of the whole thing. As it was, Nalbandian seemingly won the first set through grim determination more than anything else.

After that he loosened up and almost at times looked like the Nalbandian of old (had anybody else forgotten a bit just how good that is? His ball-striking is basically the sex), outclassing Vinciguerra throughout the second set and might have won in straights had he not taken a tumble diving for an unexpectedly stinging cross-court forehand when he was serving to stay in the third. The fall seemed to jar him a bit (hopefully doing no lingering damage, please god) and the third set unexpectedly slipped away.

But when he came out for the fourth, he had a look on his face which said pretty clearly that he had no intention of losing it, and so it proved. 75 63 46 64, and still the bad daddy of Davis Cup.

We bow before you.

I don’t want to make it seem like Nalbandian won this tie single-handed. Leo Mayer did incredibly well to recover and win against Joachim Johansson, without which Argentina would have had no chance. Horacio Zeballos really impressed in the doubles and was probably the best player out there. But quite apart from the crucial fifth rubber, you can’t underestimate the value of experience and inspiration, and it seems like Nalbandian risked his playing health to provide both this weekend.

OK, I’ll stop gushing now. Who wants happy hugging Argies?

Russia next …

R4 – R.SODERLING (SWE) def. L.MAYER (ARG)
7-5  7-6(5)  7-5
R5 – D.NALBANDIAN (ARG) def. A.VINCIGUERRA (SWE)
7-5  6-3  4-6  6-4

D Cup: All To Play For

And now for a quick (who am I kidding, mammoth) round-up of the ties still left to be settled on Sunday.

Spain 2 – Switzerland 1

Not the start that Spain wanted, as Nicolas Almagro lost a tough five-set match to Switzerland’s (in Davis Cup parlance) no. 1, new daddy Stanislas Wawrinka. Luckily Davis Cup warrior David Ferrer was on hand to steady the ship, dismissing Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets to even things up heading into the doubles.

I thought that if Switzerland could win the doubles, they would have a nice chance of nicking the tie come Sunday. But there’s that damned depth again. Perennial Davis Cup bridesmaid Marcel Granollers teamed up with Tommy Robredo to defeat Yves Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets, leaving Switzerland 1-2 and with a fatigued top singles player heading in to Sunday. Nicely done, Spain.

Russia 2 – India 1

With Nikolay Davydenko out with an injured wrist and Igor Andreev suddenly sidelined with a knee injury, Igor Kunitsyn (who looks like he’s in the last stages of Shelleyesque consumption, but apparently isn’t) was hurriedly pitchforked into the team and did a nice job, grabbing a four-set win from India’s Somdev Devvarman before Mikhail Youzhny put Russia 2-0 up over Rohan Bopanna.

It’s not quite over yet, though, as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi once again put aside their history of falling out and teamed up to flatten Russia in the doubles, 63 62 62.

Shamil despairs. Like a fox.

Sweden 1 – Argentina 2

Things didn’t start off well for Our Heroes, as Eduardo Schwank was dismissed in straight sets by Robin Soderling.

Taxi!

But an unlikely hero stepped up in the form of Leonardo ‘horseface’ Mayer, who came back from a set down to give Argentina their first point against Joachim Johansson.

Actually the best photo of him I could find.

And then who should hove into view (can you ‘hove’? did I make up that word?) but El Rey himself, David Nalbandian, who teamed up with Horacio Zeballos to take the doubles from Soderling and Lindstedt in straight sets.

Understandably, Nalbandian will get a lot of the credit for this win, but I really have to highlight the brilliant performance of Horazio Zeballos. The Zebutante really impressed on his first Davis Cup outing, staying cool and frequently producing fantastic shots under pressure. I’ve never really watched him play before, but he must have produced close to if not his best tennis on this occasion, a hard thing to do in Davis Cup especially with a legend-in-his-own-lunchtime next to you on the court. Great stuff. If Argentina lose this tie (they will), it won’t be his fault.

I’m told his nickname in Argentina translates to ‘onion’. Do with that information what you will.

Serbia 2 – United States 1

Well, well. Serbia looked well in control after Friday’s singles play against the next generation US team, with Troicki edging John Isner in four tight sets and Djokovic taking care of Querrey, also in four sets.

Things looked pretty rosy for the Serbian team when the news broke that Mike Bryan was suffering from food poisoning and would be replaced by John Isner for Saturday’s doubles. But it didn’t quite work out that way, and a lot of the credit has to go to John Isner. Despite enthusiastic (and sexy) support from the bench …

… the US won in four sets, 76(8) 57 76(8) 63, helped slightly by a controversial call in the third-set tiebreak but mainly by the level head of Bob Bryan and some really impressive work from John Isner. It takes serious, er, mental toughness to bounce back from a disappointing singles debut and put in the kind of performance he did in an unfamiliar milieu on his least favourite surface, against hostile crowd no less. Impressive.

Chile 2 Israel 0

After a day’s delay (and a minute’s silence for the victims of the Chilean earthquake), the postponed tie got under way today with singles action and both Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez performed for their country, winning in four sets and (in Gonzo’s case) with the due amount of theatrics.

Fuerza Chile!