Notable Results:
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Hong Kong F: (1) Sabine Lisicki d. (3) Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3
Quebec City F: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni d. (1) Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3
Tashkent F: (3) Karin Knapp d. (1) Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 7-6
Davis Cup SF: France d. Czech Republic 4-1
Davis Cup SF: Switzerland d. Italy 3-2
Davis Cup WGP: Brazil d. Spain 3-1
Davis Cup WGP: Argentina d. Israel 3-2
Davis Cup WGP: Canada d. Colombia 3-2
Davis Cup WGP: USA d. Slovakia 5-0
Davis Cup WGP: Australia d. Uzbekistan 5-0
Davis Cup WGP: Croatia d. Netherlands 3-2
Davis Gup WGP: Belgium d. Ukraine 3-2
News & Links:
Did you miss any of the action over Davis Cup weekend? The live blogs are the perfect place to get caught up.
In the most shocking result, Brazil sent Spain out of the World Group as Thomaz Bellucci had the weekend of his career, defeating Pablo Andujar 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 on Friday and Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday in a live fifth rubber.
From the Davis Cup website:
It was a spectacular performance from world No. 83 Bellucci in front of a raucous local support in his home city of Sao Paulo. The Brazilian had only gone past the second round once in his last 10 tournaments but ripped up the form book with victory against higher-ranked Bautista Agut, the world No. 15.
Bellucci, 26, said: “I think it is my greatest win. For me it was a big challenge to play at home against Spain. I played my best tennis today to get this point which was very important for the team.
“During the match I think Bautista Agut wasn’t feeling so well. He was missing a lot. I think he was feeling the pressure of playing against a big Brazilian crowd. I think I managed it a little bit better than him and that was the key in the match.”
Also, Roger Federer led Switzerland to the Davis Cup final with a win over Fabio Fognini on Sunday, thanks mainly to shots like this:
A France/Switzerland Davis Cup final in France? Yes, please.
This is a fantastic piece on Grantland by Tom Perrotta on last year’s bizarre Pakistan/New Zealand Davis Cup tie, which ended in default due to court conditions.
And yet another great Grantland piece, Darren Sands on Francis Tiafoe.
If you still can’t stop thinking about the U.S. Open, Andrew and I talked all about it.
In a battle of the best stories in sports, tip a hat to Lucic-Baroni for winning her first WTA title since before CiCi Bellis was born. Just incredible.
Tennis on Twitter
Weekend update, Monfils edition https://t.co/0zMfF5wAfA
— Louisa Thomas (@louisahthomas) September 15, 2014
Hours after beating Venus to win singles, Lucic-Baroni wins dubs in Quebec w/ Hradecka. 2nd player this year to sweep. (Garcia, Bogota) #wta
— Victoria Chiesa (@vrcsports) September 14, 2014
I just haven't met you yet!!
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) September 13, 2014
I understand no Rafa, but Granollers, Ferrer, Verdasco, Robredo, & Feliciano Lopez all absent? Why?
I guess this is what happens when you field a… C/D-level Davis Cup team (considering the number of players who… Just didn’t play for them.). Still, shocking that Spain lost to Brazil. It’s not like that was a particularly difficult draw for them…
Happy that we get to see a France/Switzerland Davis Cup final. That should be pretty awesome. Maybe even mega awesome. Also glad to see the (expected) result of Canada retaining their World Group place.
One of the things that I love most about Davis Cup (despite all of its faults) is that, time and time again, we see players like a Bellucci play above their heads for a fleeting moment or two to lead their team to victory. Dancevic coming through for Canada against Spain in the 2013 first round, Ward coming through for GB against the US earlier this year (sigh), and any player for Kazakhstan in any Davis Cup they’ve competed in recently come to mind.
Was hoping to see Federer / Wawrinka play doubles (they showed the Switzerland / Italy tie live on TV in Vietnam!). Chiudinelli was very obviously the weak link there (v. Fognini / Bolleli) and it was painful to see him losing confidence throughout the match. I can see why Fed didn’t play Davis Cup all these years, as there’s just too big a gap between the top 1-2 and the rest of the team. Looks like a golden opportunity this year. Here’s hoping he gets that elusive win!