Davis Cup gets its final four
HAMBURG, Germany (Agencies): Unruffled by a raucous crowd, Jonas Bjorkman picked up right where he left off last year in the Davis Cup.
He beat Nicolas Kiefer in five sets Sunday to send defending champion Sweden past Germany and into the semifinals of the Davis Cup.
In another quarterfinals, Spain ousted Switzerland and will play the Swedes in one semifinal. The United States and Italy will meet in the other. Both semifinals are from Sep. 25 to Sep. 27.
Bjorkman won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to give Sweden a 3-1 lead in the first of two matches, with a crowd of 10,200 jeering every call that went against the German, AP reported.
"I had doubts a lot of times I would win," Bjorkman said. "I didn't play well, but I never gave up."
Kiefer failed twice to break Bjorkman at 4-4 in the final set, then was broken on his next serve to end a wild match.
"Bjorkman's hard to beat, but Kiefer had his chances," German captain Carl-Uwe Steeb said.
In a final singles reduced to three sets, Germany's Tommy Haas defeated Magnus Larsson 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-2.
Bjorkman, ranked number nine in the world, won three singles and went undefeated in doubles in Sweden's title run last year.
One of the world's top doubles players, Bjorkman teamed with Nicklas Kulti on Saturday to give Sweden a 2-1 lead by beating Boris Becker and David Prinosil.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, the United States won 4-1 on its home soil for the 18th consecutive time. The Americans will take another home advantage in the semifinals.
Todd Martin spoiled Xavier Malisse's 18th birthday Sunday but Belgium avoided a sweep when Jim Courier retired with an arm injury.
Courier was leading Christophe van Garsse, 6-3, 1-4, when he left the court. In Sunday's opening match, Martin beat Malisse, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.
The matches were reduced to best-of-three sets since the Americans had clinched by winning the opening three matches.
At La Coruna, Spain, Carlos Moya, the world's number four player, won Spain 4-1 for a place in the semifinals for the first time in 11 years by downing Marc Rosset 7-5, 6-1, 7-5. Alex Corretja finished off a 4-1 victory by beating George Bastl 6-0, 7-5.
At Prato, Italy, Davide Sanguinetti topped Zimbabwe's Wayne Black 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 and Diego Nargiso powered past Zimbabwe's Genius Chidzikwo 6-0, 6-2 to give Italy a sweep on clay courts.
Indonesia
In Jakarta, Indonesian national team director Benny Mailili blamed the uncomfortable carpet surface for his players' loss in their Davis Cup Asia Oceania playoff match in Beirut.
Host Lebanon foiled Indonesia's quest of a rare win in Davis Cup outing by sweeping the first three matches for an unassailable 3-0 lead on Saturday.
"We are not used to playing on such a court. We don't have any courts of that kind.
"Although my players practiced on a plexi-pave surface, which is almost similar to that in Lebanon, they still found it difficult to play on it," Benny said.
Despite the loss, Benny praised his squad for their never-say- die efforts. "They didn't give up that easy. They lost in very close matches," said Benny.
Indonesia will visit China, a playoff loser to South Korea on Sunday, in September to decide which team will have to play a relegation match for the next season.
China blanked Indonesia 5-0 in their Davis Cup first-round match here in March 1996.
Benny said he would let American coach Matt Wheeler to select the players for the second playoff. (yan)