This past weekend was the first round of the Davis Cup, an international men's team tournament. With Team USA squaring up against a Federer-less Swiss team on American soil in their first match up.
Day 1, Friday, James Blake was first up against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka. Despite having a strong start in the first set, the momentum quickly switched in favor of the Swiss. Wawrinka quickly wrapped up the second and third sets, but Blake fought back into a fourth set tiebreak. However, the match just wasn't meant to be as the Swiss were first to strike. 0 - 1 Switzerland.
The next match up was USA's number one player, Andy Roddick. Andy has always had a strong showing in Davis Cup matches. His match went by quicky as he dispatched Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets, only one slight hiccup as the third set went to a tiebreaker. This win gave team USA the bounce back that they needed. All tied up at 1 - 1.
Day 2, Saturday, is exclusively doubles day. This is also a day where the Swiss team missed Federer as they set up to go against the No. 1 men's double team, the Bryan brothers. In the first two sets the Bryan brothers seemed to be cruising along, but the Swiss mounted yet another comeback taking the third set. The fourth set went to a tie break, and the Bryan brothers locked up their lead by only allowing the Swiss team 2 points in the tiebreaker. After 3 matches Team USA takes the lead 2 - 1.
Day 3, Sunday, began with Andy Roddick against Stanislas Wawrinka. Andy was probably looking for some redemption for Wawrinka taking the first match against James Blake, and to quickly clinch their spot in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka was blasted off the court in straight sets. Going by just the score, you can see Andy clearly out played him. This was also the first and only match that did not have a tiebreak in the deciding set. Team USA wins 3 - 1 over Team Switzerland.
The last match of the day was James Blake going against Marco Chiudinelli. Since the USA had already clinched the win this match was considered dead, meaning that it doesn't affect the outcome of match; it's pretty much an exhibition match for the fans. In live Davis Cup matches, they go the best of five sets. However, in a dead match, they only play the best of three sets. James won the match in straight sets, and this match had also ended in a tiebreaker. The final score was 4 - 1.
Now the USA has to look ahead to July where they will travel to Croatia, the 2005 Davis Cup Champions, on their choice of surface. The last time the USA matched up against Croatia was in 2005, where the Croatians beat the Americans and eventually went on to win the Davis Cup. Let's hope that Team USA can have as strong a showing there, as they did this past weekend and clinch a spot into the semifinals.
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