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It’s Davis Cup quarterfinal weekend.
Italy vs. Great Britain in Naples. After court condition delays, Fognini handled Ward and Murray vs. Seppi was postponed with Murray up.
Germany traveled to Nancy, France and Kamke upset Benneteau. Gojowczyk is battling Tsonga. Interestingly, the highest ranked German singles player Benjamin Becker was left off the team, however his 0-5 Davis Cup match record may be a factor in that decision. Becker made the fourth round last week in Miami, defeating Harrison before losing to Raonic.
Japan vs. defending champion Czech Republic. Japan, the home team, is without Kei Nishikori because of his lingering groin problem and Czech only brought three players. But Stepanek and Rosol won both singles today and will attempt to clinch the SF berth with either Rosol and Step paired with Vesely in doubles tomorrow.
Switzlerland vs. Kazakhstan in Geneva. The Swiss are now the favorites to win the Cup this year but with that expectation, Wawrinka lost to Golubev in four sets. Federer righted the ship with a domination of Kukushkin.
In other action, Eugenie Bouchard is showing her clay court skillset by defeating Venus in Charleston yesterday, and she is up a set on Jankovic in today’s QF.
Dan Markowitz · April 4, 2014 at 3:06 pm
This Peter Gojowczyk (I thought at first Pete Gogolak the old New York Giants place kicker had made a comeback) Tsonga match is a classic. The French would go down 2-0 on home soil if they dropped this one. Now wait a second, I like Benny, but did Clement really play Benny over Monfils!?
You think Wawa is having a little trouble living up to his Aussie Open title? But this Gojowczyk is a wonder. The guy hit his career-high ranking at age 24 at No. 99 earlier this year. But this guy has game. I mean we all know Kamke (who beat Benny) is a fairly good player, but this Gojowczyk has a big serve and lethal groundies. Can’t imagine he’s not going to be Top 50 soon. He’s better than any American young player.
Dan Markowitz · April 4, 2014 at 3:14 pm
“Gojowczyk has done it,” Lief Shiras calls it on Tennis Channel. And then Gimel says, “This is not just one of the great efforts in tennis this year, it’s one of the best efforts in sports.”
We have a new Davis Cup star. Peter Gojowczyk, as Shiras says, the name doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue.
Did you see, Scoop, Jared Donaldson is in the quarters of the Futures in the US. Donaldson might be the best prospect coming out of America.
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 7:04 pm
Gojo pulled a Rosol and Soderling, this guy can do big things with that heavy artillery he has in his arsenal. He can pulverize a ball and he kept his cool under all that pressure. He broke Tsonga down, Might Jo did not choke, he had Jo on the defense like we never saw before. Thought the cramps were embellished if not flat out faked but oh what a performance by Peter Gojo. A star is born. How about German tennis resurrecting. If Germany pulls this off vs. France with that rag tag lineup it has to be one of the biggest shocks of the century.
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Saw him in the draw in Texas Dan but didn’t check up results. JD hasn’t done anything yet to establish himself but he has plenty of time to step up.
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 7:08 pm
How about Wawrinka smashing more racquets. He’s up there with Gulbis as a hothead. He busted one in practice at Sony before the tournament even started, the kids who got the racquet told me about it. He broke one vs. Step at US Open last year first round. He broke one today losing to Golubev. I say the racquet smasher of the year is a battle between Gulbis and Stan.
Doogie · April 4, 2014 at 7:48 pm
What day this was:
Stan lost against Golubev.
Jo lost against Gojo.
JJ lost against Coric.
DavisCup always brings up huge upsets!
Great matches to watch.
Dan Markowitz · April 5, 2014 at 9:10 am
Holy Toledo,
The Khazaks are up 2-0 love in the doubles sets and with Fed and Wawa on the court (Wawa btw, how did this guy ever win an ATP tournament to say nothing of an Aussie Open–the guy is bad with a capital B), the player with the best one-hander is Andrey Golubev!
Scoop Malinowski · April 5, 2014 at 9:49 am
Unbelievably bad play by Stan, he completely disintegrated at the end of the catastrophic second set. I mean, he could barely make any shot, even the easiest of slams at the net he managed to bungle. He must have missed ten volleys. He brought down Roger’s game too. I have never seen a great player completely unravel and look so uncomfortable like that. Roger has to step up and uplift Stan, say something, hug him, have him smash a table or something, looks like he did something to spark Stan in the locker room after second set as they just won the third set. It’s gotta be a really complicated emotional experience for Stan to play dubs with Roger in Switzerland in Davis Cup. Hope they can work through this.
Doogie · April 5, 2014 at 10:02 am
Because Stan played that bad , Fed and Waw switched sites after 2nd set. Now Fed playing on BH.
Uncredibly – never seen this in this class. In a team that play together lot of times.
Doogie · April 5, 2014 at 10:24 am
2 weeks ago: Stan looks like a wrecking machine now. He’s a new guy with sky high confidence now. (after beating a low class player).
I just need time to get familar with the over/underhyping of the US.
F.e. off topic I know:
3 weeks ago I read Clayton Kershaw is not worth his money because he played bad in offseason (!!). After his first game he is the new (and old) CY Young award winner this season.
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Did anyone catch Hyung Taik Lee played for Korea vs. India? He’s been off the ATP tour for about 4-5 years now. India won the tie though. Remeber HTL got to around 50 in the world, had a good 4th round run at US Open one year, giving Sampras a good battle on Ashe.