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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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| Norman helps Sweden pull even with Czechs Associated Press | |||
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Magnus Norman beat Jiri Novak
in a tense five-set match to put former champions Sweden level at
1-1 against the Czech Republic after the first day of their
Davis Cup world group first round tie on Friday.
Norman, the world No. 5 , won 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 1-6, 2-6, 6-4
in 3 hours, 5 minutes.
Earlier, Bohdan Ulihrach had put the Czechs ahead by beating
Thomas Johansson 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
In Saturday's doubles Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti face
Novak and David Rikl.
Ulihrach, 25, his powerful baseline game at times superb,
took more than three hours to beat Johansson on Sweden's return
to the world group.
Sweden, who has won the Davis Cup seven times, dropped out
of the world group in 1999 after winning the trophy in the two
preceding years.
"I am very happy with the victory today," Ulihrach, ranked
16th in the ATP Champions race, said.
The Czech struggled in the fourth set, losing a 5-1 lead and
allowing Johansson to pull even at 5-5.
"I felt confident but in the fourth set I started to get
shaky," Ulihrach said. "I was really nervous."
But the Swede, who served 13 aces in the match to Ulihrach's
three, dropped his own serve to go 5-6 down and the Czech made
no mistake as he sealed victory in the next game.
Johansson, ranked 31st, dropped seven service games and
managed a first-serve percentage of just 53. He said that was
part of the reason for his defeat.
"He played too fast for me. I could not keep up," the Swede
said. "It was very hard trying to catch up with him all the
time." | |
ALSO SEE Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland Davis Cup results Netherland's Sluiter shocks Spain Haas crushes Moldovan while Kiefer falls Rafter, Hewitt give Australia 2-0 lead against Ecuador Clement fights back to give France early lead Russia, Slovakia split singles matches Kuerten overcomes poor start to give Brazil lead Sweden confident on return to World Group Davis Cup | |
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