The Davis Cup World Group semifinal between Great Britain and Australia will begin on Friday on the indoor hard courts of Glasgow. Andy Murray is opening against Thanasi Kokkinakis before Dan Evans faces Bernard Tomic.
Andy Murray (GBR) vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)
Two good friends and frequent training partners will go head-to-head for the first time when Murray and Kokkinakis kick off the Great Britain vs. Australia Davis Cup semifinal tie on Friday in Glasgow. Both players are looking to bounce back from relatively disappointing U.S. Open campaigns. Murray had been in outstanding form with a title in Montreal and a semifinal showing in Cincinnati. Expected to go up against Roger Federer in a semifinal showdown at Flushing Meadows, the third-ranked Scot instead lost to Kevin Anderson in a fourth-round upset. Still, Murray is a stellar 59-10 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in Davis Cup singles rubbers.
Kokkinakis got dragged into the Nick Kyrgios-Stan Warinka controversy during the Montreal Masters, but he did not let it affect him in Cincinnati. The world No. 72 qualified for the main draw there and ousted Fabio Fognini before succumbing to Richard Gasquet. Kokkinakis also went up against Gasquet in the U.S. Open first round and pushed the Frenchman to five sets before retiring with cramps. The 19-year-old is 1-1 in Davis Cup this year; he came back from two sets down to beat Lukas Rosol on the road in the Czech Republic but lost during quarterfinal action at home to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin. An away date with Murray will obviously be Kokkinakis’ toughest Davis Cup test yet.
Pick: Murray in 3 with at least 1 tiebreaker
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Dan Evans (GBR) vs. Bernard Tomic (AUS)
The Australia Davis Cup team has played some musical chairs in recent seasons, and Tomic has beena a big reason for the ongoing uncertainty due to both inconsistent play on the court and questionable behavior off it. Almost the same can be said for Kyrgios. It was Kyrgios who got the call for the Davis Cup quarterfinals against Kazakhstan, but now Tomic is on the squad while Kyrgios is absent. The 22-year-old is in strong enough form, up to a career-high ranking of 23rd in the world. He outlasted Australian teammate Lleyton Hewitt’s U.S. Open career after a five-set thriller then lost to Gasquet in the third round.
Evans is 1-0 lifetime against Tomic, having prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 at the 2013 U.S. Open. But the 25-year-old has since disappeared from the main tour. In fact, he has not won an ATP-level match since Queen’s Club in 2014 and he has not even played in an ATP tournament this season. Registering at exactly 300th in the world, Evans has been grinding away on the Futures and Challenger circuits and has three Futures titles to his credit this year. Although he is finally playing with some confidence again, this is a substantial step up in competition for Evans.
Pick: Tomic in 4
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Murray destroys kokkinakis to start things off.
Weakest DC final 4 I can recall ever.
Just to clarify, not the countries but the players involved.
Rafa seems to be struggling against a nobody. Its on serve but Rafa had to fight off a lot of BP’s
yep, just watching the live-score…the guy is 909 in the ranking system and yet had multiple break points on 4:4…Rafa finally takes the first set by breaking at 5:4…luckily the guy is young and his inexperience may have to do with it…Gosh, does this agony ever end?..
The live scores for the group 1 isn’t working for me. What is Rafa’s score now? Also the guy is young and has nothing to lose so he might be playing well but Rafa still shouldn’t be being tested that much.
Have you tried this:
http://daviscup.tennis-live-scores.com/dc_scoreboard.html?view=g1
Click “LIVE: Rubber 1” under Spain vs Denmark.
And he gets broken back after breaking. Its Rafa 6-4 3-2 on serve second set.
THere could be a bloodbath this fall season
4:2 Rafa…Rafa breaks again…good that I do not have to see this…it is disturbing enough to watch the live score…
It’s ok he will win that’s what matters at this point of the season. Getting the wins.
and Rafa won 30% on his second serve in the Set 2…sounds familiar?…5:2 Rafa…
I hope these DC matches are a balsam for Rafa.. he needs to get out of this dynamic or just hang his racket imho
Rafa wins the second set 6:3…it should be straight forward now…I HOPE…
Vamos Rafa!
Match point
Rafa wins! Nice try, Mikael.
It’s an indoor court, on wood, I think. Not a court Rafa has played on in many a year. Understandable.
nadline10 (at 4:15 pm)
Surface: Hard (DecoTurf Cat 2), Indoor
http://www.daviscup.com/en/draws-results/tie/details.aspx?tieId=100022417
Rafa wins: 6:4 6:3 6:2…apart from facing two break points (and saving them thanks God!) when serving for the match the third set did not seem to be a struggle…
They have used his full name on the scoreboard – R Nadal-Parera. I have never seen that before.
Don’t you just love Davis Cup. Dan Evans makes an amazing comeback from two sets down to take the third set from under the nose of Tomic and send the home crowd delirious with excitement.
I was baffled by the choice of Evans over James Ward. So were other people – see this article:
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/606027/James-Ward-Davis-Cup-Great-Britain
Leon Smith will come under fire for his decision if GB lose out to the Aussies.
Murray was looking stony faced throughout the second rubber.
How did Ferrer’s match go?
WINNER: D. FERRER-ERN. [From the DC website.]
I didn’t watch the match.
Ferrer won 61 75 62.
Vamos Spain
I admit I was surprised when Dan Evans was fielded instead of James Ward. In the past I’ve seen him play his little cotton socks off in DC but he’s never done much on the ATP tour. He was out much of last year because of a knee injury and has been playing mainly challengers since then. Hardly good preparation for DC.
Conchita is doing a good job so far.