Davis Cup Saturday

Of the ten Davis Cup ties relating to the World Group that are taking place this weekend, four have already reached their conclusion. Three of the playoff rubbers: Germany has beaten South Africa, Romania has beaten Ecuador, and - in the only real surprise, Kazakhstan has trounced Switzerland. I expect that Stan Wawrinka, the player who really needed to put in a strong performance for Switzerland with Roger Federer out of the picture, was still exhausted and possibly nursing an injury from his run at the U.S. Open. It's not the first time this has happened, though, as Switzerland actually dropped out of the World Group as recently as 1998. Federer didn't help the Swiss come back from that a few years ago - I wonder if he'll do it next year.

In the World Group semifinals, France stormed to a 3-0 victory against Argentina. On the day of the first singles, it looked like Nalbandian was going to outplay Gael Monfils, but then Nalby just went away in the third set, and from that point on, Argentina was never even in the tie. France made it to their first final since 2002.

They'll face either Serbia or the Czech Republic - their rubber was tied at the end of the singles. Djokovic was forced to withdraw, and Troicki lost to Stepanek. But then Tipsarevic turned in one of his best career performances to beat Berdych in four sets. A really strong performance from Janko. Unfortunately for the Serbian fans, despite Djokovic's presence in the doubles, the Czechs won in straights, so they'll have the advantage going into the final day. It will be interesting to see if Djokovic plays singles, and how well he can play. If he does play up to his potential and manages to win, the match between Stepanek and Tipsarevic could be the deciding one, and that's an intriguing one.

As for the as-yet undecided playoff matches, the one that I have the most interest in is - as you might expect - the U.S. against Colombia. In an effort to counter the U.S. players' strengths at every turn, they not only decided to play the rubber on clay, but also decided to use pressureless balls. While it may have been tough for the U.S. players to deal with, it hasn't been easy for the Colombians either. In Mardy Fish's five-set win over Alejandro Falla, the two of them hit nearly 200 unforced errors. But Fish adjusted to the conditions, while Sam Querrey, who followed him, just couldn't get his game together in the adverse conditions. It wasn't an encouraging performance, but I can understand. While pressureless balls and clay courts make for some difficult back-court rallies, they don't make much difference up at net - which was why I favored Fish and Isner in the doubles match, and it turn out to be the case that they pulled out the win. If there's one thing that Isner's used to, after all, it's altitude. I don't know if Querrey's going back out for the reverse singles (I wouldn't be surprised if they subbed in Isner instead) but I think the odds of the Americans picking up one of those two points is pretty good.

Australia may be up two points to one over Belgium, so it may seem like their victory is assured. But Lleyton Hewitt is out of the reverse singles with a wrist injury, so it seems that either Peter Luczak or Carsten Ball will need to win a singles match to get the Australians, too. It's a break for the Belgians, but it's still a tough ask, to win both points on the final day of a Davis Cup match.

For example, I have to doubt that the Italians have a chance of winning both points against Sweden, particularly since that would mean that Potito Starace would have to beat Robin Soderling. That's not looking too likely to me.

India and Brazil had the most exciting first day of the whole weekend, despite it being an outright disaster for the home team. India lost both matches in five-set thrillers, but they bounced back in the doubles - not really a surprise, as Bhupathi and Paes are one of the great doubles teams of our era. Since the first singles matches were so close, there's a chance - not a big chance, but a slight one - for an Indian comeback tomorrow. But I see the Brazilians coming through.

And Israel and Austria are resuming action after taking a day off for Yom Kippur. It's tough to see Austria coming back from 2 points to 1 down, but if Melzer can beat Sela (a likely event) it would all come down to young Andreas Haider-Maurer against the veteran Harel Levy. That would be a deciding rubber that would be fun to see.

Davis Cup weekends are full of fun action. There were some good matches in the regional competition as well - Canadian teen Milos Raonic beat a vet from the Dominican Republic 9-7 in the fifth, which is a great result for him. Korea won the first two points of their tie against the Philippines, and both of their singles players were teenagers. Encouraging signs for the Korean team. And the young Lithuanian player Ricardas Berankis beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovakia, then contributed to a five-set doubles win as well. He could win the whole tie himself!