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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Friday, February 9 |
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| Both Aussies win in easy straight sets Reuters | |||
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PERTH, Australia -- Patrick Rafter and
Lleyton Hewitt demolished the Lapentti brothers, Nicolas and
Giovanni, on Friday to give Australia a 2-0 lead over Ecuador
after the opening singles matches of their Davis Cup World Group
first-round clash.
Showing no signs of the cramp that halted his Australian
Open campaign, Rafter mastered Nicolas 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 before Hewitt
beat Giovanni 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Australia need to win just one of the remaining three
matches to be played over the weekend to advance to a second-round matchup against either Brazil or Morocco.
Despite playing in hot weather at the Royal
Kings Park Tennis Club in Perth, Rafter had few problems
overcoming Ecuador's highest ranked player, sealing victory in
105 minutes.
Hewitt, Australia's highest ranked player, was just as
comfortable in brushing past Giovanni, ranked 920 places below
the Adelaide teenager.
The Lapentti brothers will team up Saturday to face Todd
Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs in the doubles before lining up
against Rafter and Hewitt again in reverse singles on Sunday.
Ecuador reached the world group for the first time after
beating Britain 3-2 at Wimbledon last July. | |
ALSO SEE Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland Davis Cup results Netherland's Sluiter shocks Spain Haas crushes Moldovan while Kiefer falls Ulihrach puts Czechs ahead against Sweden Clement fights back to give France early lead Russia, Slovakia split singles matches Kuerten overcomes poor start to give Brazil lead | |
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