Its a bit quiet on the Davis Cup front on here today...

Gasquet beat Hanescu to put the French up 1-0,
Chiudinelli gave the Swiss a crucial 1-0 start up by beating Verdasco,
Haas lost 1st set, but then went on to beat Ancic 3 sets to 1
Soderling had a straightforward victory over Voltchkov to put Sweden up 1-0
Acasuso had a good solid start to Argentina's tie with Austria by beating Koubek
Safin had a good start against Massu but I believe this match is going on (and strangely enough I actually have the Russians as underdogs in this tie).

Tommy :clap:

Chiudinelli :clap:

Marat ... :clap:? :shrug:

Vliegen beats Hewitt 46 64 36 63 64 in a match lasting 4 and a half hours

In the USA v. CZE match, Roddick beat Minar in four.

Blake vs. Berdych looks like it could be a good one. Berdych took the first set 6-1, but Blake evened it up by taking the second set 6-2. I really like Blake and would love to see him get a five-set win here. It would set the US up for an almost certain win of the tie and would get that monkey off Blake's back of never having won a five-setter.

Ferrer is about ready to even up the Spain/Switzerland tie. I knew Federer was not playing, but it doesn't look as though Wawrinka is scheduled to play, either. And Nadal isn't on the schedule, either. Spain certainly has the greater depth. It would be pretty remarkable to see a Swiss win, without Federer or Wawrinka.

Nadal and Wawrinka are both out because of injury.

Ben Becker took the first set of Ljubicic, but just got broken in the second, so it looks like Ljubo will even it out now. :(

It could be a tiebreak in the third for Blake/Berdych. No breaks of serve yet, and they're at 5-5.

I'm only following the scoreboard, but it sounds like a well-played set by both. Each has 20+ winners against only 5 UEs so far in the set.

Ooh! Berdych earns the first break point of the set (which is a set point, as well), but Blake saves it. He also saves a second break point, but not the third . . .

Berdych takes a 6-1 2-6 7-5 lead.

Blake has never won a 5 setter. Unfortunately we all know where this is going. :(

I believe in him. He can pull it off. Seems like he's having trouble taking advantage of his opportunities here in the 4th, though. He's 0/7 in break chances in this set. Now he's serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the fourth.

5-6 15-40 Hang in there, James!!

Deuce! Two match points saved. :phew:

:( Berdych earns the Ad and wins it 6-1 2-6 7-5 7-5

Well, if the Bryan Bros. come through tomorrow, we'll still be in good shape.

Olli takes control of the Gooch as he leads 3-6 7-5 6-2 1-0.

People who think that Australia is going to win this tie should review what their predictions. Like I said on the other thread, they aren\'t much threat on clay.

Although they might challenge Belgium in the doubles rubber...But that\'s just about it.

4-1 to Belgium or possibly 3-2 if it\'s a dead rubber at the end.

Now it's 3-0 in the 4th set-bye bye Goochy.

Its unfortunate but James Blake seems to play badly or lose close mathes against tought opponents. Blake's record in slams and masters events are no wonder dismal.

Its a tough one now. The Bryans should win tomorrow, and if Berdych beats Roddick, it'll come down to Blake winning the final match. If that too gets close, I dont want to utter the "C" word but it is in the offing.

good fightback from grosjean in coming back from 2 nil down to defeat andrei pavel in 5 :clap:

and a satisfying davis cup win for back-from-suspension canas.

Team USA off to a good start. Bryans won the first set 6-4.

2-2 on serve in the second. We shud wrap this up in straight sets.

Wonder where MJT is??? The Germans are doing pretty well in the doubles..... :clap:

Australia are 6-2 5-4 up in the doubles...

Com\'on Kris and Ollie! Hold on tight to your dreams!

Of course, Hanley is a very accomplished doubles player...

Team USA won in 3.
Tomorrow's Roddick-Berdych would be a good one.

TAKE THE BREAK POINT KRIS AND OLLI

Damn it, set point Australia :(

Game, set Australia...

6-2 6-4

FIGHT BACK

clement/llodra won a marathon 7-6 in the 5th to take the romanians in 3 straight rubbers :ok:

but i expected more of a fight from ancic/ljubicic. yes i know they're really accomplished singles players, but still :unsure:

:o I just saw that the SUI/ESP doubles match is at 9-all in the fifth!

No tiebreak in the fifth, so Clement/Llodra actually ended up losing 11-9 in the fifth to Mergea/Tecau.

damn. my bad :doh:

but i'm confident gasquet will sweep aside pavel :ok:

Lopez/Verdasco break for an 11-10 lead. Can they serve it out, now?

I heard Lleyton Hewitt won the doubles with Paul Hanley against the Belgium pair so Hewitts fightback ability seems it might come through again. :)

I was out, buying a fridge and a futon chair for my office ... seeing as though I've got so much work recently, might as well have a few comforts there. :)

But I didn't leave without seeing that Germany was two sets ahead in the doubles. :) :)

I fancy our chances now, actually. Ancic and Ljubicic are bound to be gettign a bit tired now, and Tommy Haas has been in good form recently, so an upset of Ljubo isn't exactly impossible.

I do hope Tommy doesn't lose, though, or the pressure on poor Benjamin would be immense. Then, on the other hand, he showed that he can handle pressure in his match against Agassi, didn't he ...

Anyway, GO GERMANY! :) :bigwave:

Roddick - Berdych..on serve 3-2

The tennis channel is showing the Ljubicic-Haas match now. Any live streaming info for the USA-CZE tie anyone??

Berdych takes the first set 6-4.

No No No.

Dont want Blake to play the final match 2-2.
He is a CC (no not CenterCourt but Champion C.... :) )

Oooh, I wish I could watch Ljubicic-Haas. Only one set away from victory now! :yahoo:

But best not to celebrate prematurely.

Don't worry too much about Blake, chet, he's a good player. Wouldn't it be fantastic if he won the DC tie in a final five-setter? That'd put his demons to rest, surely! :)

Anyway, might not come to that ... Roddick's up 3-0 in the second set, I see.

mjt.
Yes Roddick has control of the 2nd set now. Lets hope he can wrap it up here.

Haas just broke Ljuby in the third.

:yahoo: Tommy :yahoo:

Just one game away from victory ... let's hope it doesn't still slip away ...

And :yahoo: Andy Roddick for taking the second and breaking early in the third!

GSM Germany :yahoo: :bigwave:

That makes Spain and Germany the first countries that are through.

Who would have thought it? Well done, Tommy! And Waske and Kohlmann as well, of course :bow:

Pity that Ben didn't win in his debut against Ivan, but well-played anyway, as he took the first set at least. Overall, a pretty good tie for us, I'd say!

well done tommy :clap: :clap: :clap:

and a straight sets win for gasquet over pavel takes france into the quarters

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Next up for Germany is Belgium or Australia. At the moment, it looks like Hewitt might pull Australia level, although he's down a break in the third set, so we'll have to wait and see.

In any case, our chances shouldn't be too bad against either country, I reckon. Let's hope we can keep it up! Making the semis (against Russia?) would be pretty special already, but I'll try and not get ahead of myself ...

A-Rod looks like he's going to pull this through, after dropping the first set he's now serving for the third at 5-2. Go Andy!

Well done Richard. :clap: