 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Davis Cup holders Croatia bow out
 Argentina players and officials celebrate their victory over Croatia. ZAGREB, Croatia -- Argentina knocked holders Croatia out of the Davis Cup when Juan Ignacio Chela beat Sasa Tuksar 3-6 6-4 7-6 7-6 to secure a tense 3-2 victory in their quarterfinal on Sunday. In the semifinals Argentina will host Australia, who beat Belarus 5-0 in their tie. Chela's win completed a memorable weekend for the Argentines who have reached their fourth semifinal in five years. He fought back from a set down to send Argentina through after Croatia's top-ranked player and team captain Ivan Ljubicic hauled the holders level at 2-2 with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over David Nalbandian in Sunday's first singles rubber. Ljubicic confirmed he would stand down as captain after Croatia's defeat. "As I said before, I can't go on performing both as a player and the team captain so this was my last match in charge," he said. Ljubicic also performed the dual role in the first round win over Austria. "I would like Goran Ivanisevic to take over but it's up to the Croatian Tennis Association and they can appoint whoever they choose," Ljubicic added. World number 31 Chela weathered an early setback and several crises in the second and third sets against his unheralded rival to clinch a thrilling tie for Argentina, who beat Croatia by the same score at the same stage of the competition in 2002. Tuksar was selected to stand in for world number 17 Mario Ancic, who missed the entire tie with a back injury. He got the nod ahead of 17-year old prospect Marin Cilic who was thrashed by Nalbandian on Friday and looked low on confidence in the doubles he lost with Ljubicic to Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso. Roared on by a passionate home crowd, world number 159 Tuksar broke Chela's serve twice to take the opening set. However, he lost the next two through a series of unforced errors, notably an easy cross-court volley with the score level at 4-4 and deuce in the second. Chela clinched a see-saw third set after winning a nervy tiebreak 8-6. He then fought back from 2-0 down in the fourth to delight a vociferous band of about 50 Argentina fans. A battling Tuksar saved four match points in the fourth set before rifling a mid-court forehand into the net to hand the tiebreak 7-5 to Chela, who was then hugged by his jubilant team mates and captain Alberto Mancini. Mancini said he was confident Argentina could beat Australia, with whom they have a fierce rivalry, to reach their first final in the competition since 1981. "We will be playing them at home and I am confident that we can get through to the final because we will be very positive after this win," he said. Ljubicic added: "Obviously we are disappointed to be out of the competition but we have no regrets as Tuksar played his heart out today and was very unfortunate to lose a very tight match." Russia through to last fourMeanwhile, Dmitry Tursunov beat French teenager Richard Gasquet 6-1 3-6 6-7 6-3 7-5 to secure Russia a place in the Davis Cup semis. The Russians, who beat France to win the competition in 2002, will face the United States in the last four. They also beat France in last year's quarterfinals. Tursunov, who was standing in for injured Russian number one Nikolay Davydenko, edged past home favorite Gasquet after a see-saw three-hour, 25-minute tussle to give the visitors an unbridgeable 3-1 lead. In the fifth rubber Mikhail Youzhny beat Michael Llodra 6-2 4-6 7-6 to wrap up a 4-1 quarter-final win for Russia. "It would have been more difficult for me if I had not served so well," said Tursunov. "It is hard to describe what I feel because I won the third point, the one sending us through. In Davis Cup, you play for the team and I'm happy to have done what the team was expecting me to do." Gasquet, 19, said: "He played a great game even if I could have won. But he served extremely well and I gave everything." France captain Guy Forget added: "I believed Richard could win until the end. Well done, Russia. We all gave our best. In six months or a year, we'll be better. Gasquet was a bundle of nerves at the start and dropped the first set in just 25 minutes, collapsing under a series of forehand winners by Tursunov. The world number 16 regained his confidence to break the Russian, who is ranked 34, in the seventh game of the second set to level the match. Both players held their serve in the third set and in the tiebreak Gasquet trailed 4-2 before securing five successive points to grab a 2-1 lead. Tursunov then relaxed and outpowered his opponent to claim the fourth set in 29 minutes. He eventually broke Gasquet in the decider's 11th game after a thrilling exchange and won the game on his first match point. Russia had opened out a 2-0 lead after Friday's singles. Marat Safin, back from a seven-month injury layoff, outlasted Gasquet after a tense five-setter and Davydenko outfoxed Arnaud Clement in four sets. France gave themselves hope when Llodra and Clement beat Tursunov and Youzhny in five sets in Saturday's doubles. But on Sunday Gasquet was too inexperienced to pull France level in the best-of-five tie. France had not lost any of the four previous Davis Cup ties played in Pau. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
