Davis Cup First Round, Day One

With the first day of tennis for this year's Davis Cup complete, things have gone largely as expected. There are a few minor surprises, but I'll note the things that have progressed as one might have thought they would, first.

Russia lost only one set against India, with Kunitsyn losing the first in a tiebreak to Devvarman before winning in four. The Czechs didn't even lose one set to Belgium, with Berdych even serving Olivier Rochus a bagel in the second. Croatia is up two rubbers to none, but Karlovic had to work for it. Nicolas Lapentti took him to five sets, but he came out on top in the end.

France is up 2-0 on Germany, with the team only dropping one set as well, which Tsonga lost to Benjamin Becker. Serbia is also up 2-0 over the USA, with Querrey and Isner both falling in four sets. They were both hard-fought matches, but the big Americans just weren't as suited to or as comfortable as their opponents on the clay.

Chile and Israel have yet to start their tie yet, but will get underway tomorrow. That leaves the two ties which are - so far - the most competitive. Sweden is 1-1 against Argentina, which is most surprising because Nalbandian has not stepped on court for the Argentine team yet. Leonardo Mayer showed a lot of class in getting his first Davis Cup win against Joachim Johansson. It will be interesting to see if the Argentine captain then swaps out one of his singles players for Nalbandian, and if so - which one.

The most interesting result of the first day in the world group (although it isn't quite a surprise) is that Spain and Switzerland are 1-1, with Wawrinka beating Almagro in the day's second five-setter. Ferrer turned the tide on Chiudinelli, beating him in straights, but the damage was already done. The doubles will be incredibly important, because while I don't think that Switzerland can get both of the points on the second day of doubles, they have a shot at one of them. It would be amazing if Spain lost in the first round at home this year - and by that, I mean that I don't see it happening. It's too much to ask of Stan "the Man," since he's only 1-4 in doubles play in his career in the Davis Cup, anyway.

The best match of the day, though, didn't even take place in the World Group. In Group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone, Poland played Finland, and Jarkko Nieminen beat Michael Przysiezny (ranked 137) by the score 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 6-4. Nieminen may have saved match points in that fourth set tiebreak (I'm not sure) but he was on the verge of defeat for sure. I didn't see any match that went past 6-6 in the fifth in today's play (I may have missed it, I'll admit) so this was officially the closest match of the day.

A few other things worthy of note - Marcos Baghdatis breezed through his match for Cyprus, and Britain is 1-1 against Lithuania even without Andy Murray! Maybe if they can win, he'll be convinced to give it another shot. Latvia, however, is getting blitzed by Ukraine without recent titlist Ernests Gulbis. Australia is doing fine against Chinese Taipei without the injured Lleyton Hewitt, as well. Tomic and Luczak both won their matches. Grigor Dimitrov also got Bulgaria's only point against Monaco, which is a good result for the teen. Dimitrov, despite being only 18 years old, is 8-1 in Davis Cup play, including 7-0 in singles. Could we see Bulgaria in the world group, in the next few years?

Tomorrow, play really gets interesting. Quite a few teams will wrap up their ties with the doubles, but at worst, somebody will be one point from victory. This is some of the most exciting and interesting doubles action during the whole year. Enjoy!