Nalbandian sends Aussies packing

amazing.” Argentina, who will play Slovakia in the semi-final in September in Bratislava, will now be favourites to lift the crown for the first time.

After a tie sprinkled with controversy and ill-feeling, world No.9 Nalbandian let his racket do the talking as he dismantled Hewitt on a temporary grass court at the Olympic tennis centre. Playing faultless tennis Nalbandian broke Hewitt’s serve twice in each of the first two sets then once more in the third to complete a one-sided victory in less than two hours.

Hewitt, who traded insults with Coria in his opening singles on Friday, had not lost a Davis Cup singles rubber since 2001. “I think he was very, very nervous,” said Nalbandian who beat Wayne Arthurs in his first singles before teaming up with Mariano Puerta to put Argentina ahead. “That gave me confidence and made it easier for me. It was not a great day, I went into my shell a bit,” said a demoralised Hewitt.

Australia’s non-playing captain John Fitzgerald was full of praise for Nalbandian’s performance. “Nalbandian was quite outstanding,” he said. “He was very, very good and it really doesn’t get any better.”

Meanwhile, Dominik Hrbaty clinched victory for Slovakia, conquerors of holders Spain in the first round, with an easy victory over Martin Wessels. Slovakia defeated the Netherlands 4-1.

“After ice hockey where Slovakia won the gold medal at the world championships, this is the second biggest result in Slovakia,” said Hrbaty of his country’s first ever progression to the semi-finals of the competition.

Memories of the 2002 final came back to haunt France, however, as they were ambushed again by Russia. As in Paris three years ago they held a 2-1 lead going into the reverse singles, but Russia, who were without Australian Open champion Marat Safin, again stormed back to turn the tie on its head.

World No.7 Nikolay Davydenko overwhelmed French teenager Richard Gasquet 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to square the tie at Moscow’s Olympic stadium before Igor Andreev obliterated Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in the deciding fifth rubber.

Mathieu also lost the deciding rubber in 2002 when he squandered a two-set lead to Mikhail Youzhny. Russia will play Croatia, who also reached the semi-finals for the first time when Ivan Ljubicic gave them a 3-1 lead against Romania by beating Andrei Pavel 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

“I was very tired from playing on Friday and after the second set I simply ran out of gas,” said Gasquet, who beat Andreev in straight sets on his Davis Cup debut in Friday’s opener.

“Davydenko also played a perfect match,” added the world No. 17, who made 69 unforced errors and committed eight double faults on Sunday. Andreev, bitterly upset with his performance on Friday, turned his game around against Mathieu.

The Muscovite, urged on by a highly-charged home crowd including former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, came out firing, reeling off eight straight games before Mathieu finally registered on the scoreboard by breaking back in the third game of the second set.

It was only a short reprieve, however, as Andreev continued his barrage from the baseline, sending his opponent to the showers in less than two hours. “I don’t know if this was the best match I’ve ever played but definitely it was the most important so far in my career,” said the Russian, who turned 22 on Thursday.

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev was full of praise for Andreev. “I just want you to know, Mathieu is a good clay court player and he didn’t play a bad match, Andreev was just too good today,” Tarpishchev told reporters.

France captain Guy Forget was left to rue missed chances. Asked if he had any regrets at playing Mathieu in the decider, Forget said: “I wish I had (French No.1 Sebastien) Grosjean in my team. Actually I thought about playing (Arnaud) Clement or (Michael) Llodra but Clement is only ranked 100 in singles and Llodra also is more of a doubles player, so there was little I could do to change things,” he added.

Shock defeat for Srichaphan as Thailand lose to Japan

Osaka: Takao Suzuki pulled off a shock win over Asian No.1 Paradorn Srichapan today to lead Japan to a 4-1 victory over Thailand in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone group I play-off.

Suzuki, ranked 169th against Paradorn’s 43rd, broke the Thai ace twice in the opening set and once again in both the second and third for a surprisingly straightforward 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win, giving Japan an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

Substitute player Go Soeda eased past Sonchat Ratiwatana 6-3, 6-3 in the shortened dead rubber to make it 4-1 in the best-of-five contest.

Suzuki won all three of his matches here, ensuring victory for Japan in the best-of-five contest and securing their place in group I next season. Thailand now face a relegation battle against Indonesia, who lost to China 1-4 in Beijing. — AFP