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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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| Veteran Kucera beats Safin in brilliant comeback Associated Press | |||
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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Slovakia's Karol Kucera fought
back from two sets down to stun Marat Safin of Russia 3-6, 4-6,
6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in their Davis Cup opener on Friday.
But Russian No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov avoided a similar
third set collapse by thrashing Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to
leave the first round tie level at 1-1.
Safin's powerful serve kept him in charge for a time but the
Slovak veteran, plagued by injury last year, stormed back in the
third set. Kucera broke his young opponent twice with brilliant
service returns and chased down Safin's heavy ground strokes.
Kucera, inspired by the partisan home crowd, managed to
break Safin in the 11th game of the fourth set before holding
serve to force a decider.
"The turning point came after I lost the first two sets,
when I decided to focus and then lost my nervousness. I wanted
to pump up the crowd, I think it helped me, especially when it
was 5-5 (in the fourth set)," Kucera said.
A weary Safin, who ended last year as world No. 2, then
began to fade, spraying shots all over the court, allowing the
Slovak to wrap up the match with ease.
"I played quite well in the first two sets, but then Karol
got better and I started to make mistakes. I lost my
concentration and my confidence. I thought it was a complete
disaster," Safin said. "I hope this is the first and last time
it (a collapse) ever happens to me."
For Kafelnikov, the victory against Hrbaty was a repeat of their
last Davis Cup encounter in 1999 when the Russian won to put his
country into the semifinals. It was also something of a revenge
for their previous eight meetings on the ATP Tour, all of which
the Slovak has won.
A confident-looking Kafelnikov cruised through the first two
sets with Hrbaty running ragged all over the court.
The Slovak finally got on track in the 10th game of the
final set, breaking Kafelnikov to level at 5-5. But the Russian
baseliner wanted nothing to do with another set and broke right
back before serving out the match.
"It's the best match I have played against him. I was really
under pressure to get us even after the first match. I did well
against a player I have always struggled against so it was a big
bonus for me," the former world No. 1 said.
All four will meet up again on Saturday in the doubles
before playing the reverse singles on Sunday. | |
ALSO SEE Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland Netherland's Sluiter shocks Spain Haas crushes Moldovan while Kiefer falls Rafter, Hewitt give Australia 2-0 lead against Ecuador Davis Cup results Kuerten overcomes poor start to give Brazil lead Ulihrach puts Czechs ahead against Sweden Clement fights back to give France early lead Russia not feeling like favorites against Slovakia | |
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