Doubles win gives Sweden edge over Australia
JP/12/DAVIS
Doubles win gives Sweden edge over Australia
Reuters Sydney, Australia
Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johansson won an epic doubles match on Saturday to give Sweden a 2-1 lead over defending champions Australia in their first round Davis Cup tie in Adelaide.
The Swedes survived a fightback from the Australian pair of Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs to win 7-6 6-4 2-6 6-7 7-5 on a scorching hot day at the Memorial Drive tennis centre.
"It was high quality out there. It came down to a few lucky shots at the end," Bjorkman said.
"When it's the best of five sets you're always going to have a few ups and downs so you just have to hang in there."
The result left Sweden needing to win just one of Sunday's two reverse singles to advance to the quarter-finals against either the United States or Austria.
But Australia, with Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt as their singles players, have not given up hope.
"It isn't beyond the realms of possibility to win ... there still is a lot of tennis left in this tie," Australia's non- playing captain John Fitzgerald said.
"We're not through yet. I think we have still got a very good chance."
Marathon man Marat Safin ran out of steam for the second time in a week as he lost a titanic struggle to Max Mirnyi, allowing underdogs Belarus to level their Davis Cup first-round tie 1-1 with Russia on Friday.
Holder Australia and last year's runners-up Spain also shared the honors on the opening day of their World Group ties, while the U.S. moved into a comfortable lead.
Australian Open runner-up Safin was again stretched to the limit in his first match since his Melbourne Park exploits ended in defeat five days ago as he went down 7-6 7-6 1-6 4-6 11-9.
The former world No.1, on a comeback trail after an injury plagued 2003, captured the first two sets on a tiebreak only to see his cushion slip as Mirnyi roared back into contention by winning the third and fourth sets.
There was little to separate the pair in the deciding set until doubles specialist Mirnyi broke the deadlock in the 20th game.
Serving to stay in the match at 10-9 down, the towering Russian's resolve finally cracked.
Earlier, newcomer Igor Andreev gave the 2002 champions a 1-0 lead after Vladimir Voltchkov retired injured in the fourth set.
In Connecticut, the U.S. took a commanding 2-0 lead over Austria after taking the opening singles rubbers in contrasting fashion.
Robby Ginepri gave the hosts the lead after staging a stunning comeback on his Davis Cup debut to beat Jurgen Melzer 6-7 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-2.
Former world number one Roddick extended the lead in emphatic style, despatching Stefan Koubek 6-4 6-4 6-2 in just one hour and 31 minutes.
The U.S. can wrap up the tie with victory in the doubles rubber on Saturday in which Bob and Mike Bryan take on Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya.