USA @ CROATIA (CROATIA LEADS 2-0)Sportska Dvorana, Porec, Croatia (Indoor Clay)
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def James Blake (USA) 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 7-5
Marin Cilic (CRO) def Mardy Fish (USA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1, 8-6
Croatia continued its dominance of the United States in Davis Cup into 2009, winning both matches on Friday in five sets.
The heartbreaking losses for the US both featured decidedly crappy play on both sides of the net, with no player able to sustain any sort of form. While the clay surface was picked by Croatia to disadvantage the Americans, it proved to be a much smaller factor than expected, as neither Croatian looked particularly sharp on the shifty red stuff, either. Cilic and and Karlovic both broke for the wins at the end of long fifth sets, benefitting from mental exhaustion on the parts of the Americans as much as anything.
Blake looked sharp early on, but the pressure of returning Karlovic's serve for hours on end eventually wore him down, as did a hostile crowd he would later call "disrespectful." Karlovic, the only player in action this weekend in Davis Cup to have reached the quarterfinals or better at Wimbledon, celebrated his victory with a few choice spanking gestures before meeting Blake at the net for the handshake. It wasn't entirely clear what Blake had the 6'10'' Karlovic bend down to hear during their post-match summit at the umpire's chair, but it was clear from Karlovic's expression that it wasn't hearty congratulations...
Mardy Fish appeared to be a game opponent for Marin Cilic several times during their match, but ultimately seemed to lose focus in his first Davis Cup action in some time. Cilic was surprisingly unimpressive, but his B-game was enough to beat Mardy's B+.For both Blake and Fish, this was their second back to back five set loss, counting the loss the pair suffered in the Wimbledon semifinals of men's doubles. It would be near impossible for these crushing defeats not to take a toll on them that will have an effect into Sunday's matches.
Croatian Captain Goran Prpic all but conceded Saturday's doubles tie, so the Americans should head into Sunday with at least a glimmer of hope.
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What a mess for the US. I really think it's been s a mistake not to pick Querrey to play. He generally lacks ambition but is a good DC player and ... he took Rafa to 4 sets during last year semi final on clay.
ReplyDeleteEmbarrassing. The sad part is even when James and Mardy were up 2 sets, I still didn't believe they would win.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Elisa. PMac really should have asked Sam to play.
Our good friend Blake blames the hostile crowd.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, he should have stayed Home.