Sports > April 17, 2008

By Jeff Merski | Senior writer

The Davis Cup returned to Winston-Salem April 11-13 with the defending champion United States taking on France in a quarterfinal matchup at the Joel Coliseum.

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Andy Roddick prepares to return a ball during a match at the Davis Cup April 11-13 at the Joel Coliseum. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

Representing the United States were Captain Patrick McEnroe, singles players Andy Roddick (No. 6 in the world), James Black (No. 8 in the world) and doubles players Bob and Mike Bryan (No. 1 in the world in doubles), while France was represented by Captain Guy Forget, Michael Llodra, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Arnaud Clement and Richard Gasquet.

In Davis Cup play, there are five matches, formally known as “rubbers.” On the first day, each country’s No. 1-rated singles player plays against the opposing country’s No. 2-rated singles player. On the second day, there is one doubles match, and on the third day, the country’s No. 1-rated and No. 2-rated players face off in singles against each other if one side has not reached the three games needed to clinch the tie.

The first rubber of the tie was between Roddick and Llodra, with Roddick winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5). Llodra was unable to break Roddick’s powerful serve on what was a very fast court, enabling Roddick to win in straight sets.

The second rubber was between Blake and Mathieu and was an epic battle, lasting nearly four hours before Blake prevailed in five sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. The first two sets were very even, with neither player able to break their opponent. Blake was able to break Mathieu in the third set while Mathieu overcame Blake’s serve in one game in the fourth set to set up the fifth set.

Mathieu broke Blake very early in the fifth set, causing the crowd to become a bit nervous over whether or not Blake would be able to come back. It stayed that way for a while, as Mathieu lead 5-4, meaning Blake would need a break in that game in order to stay alive. Down two match points to Mathieu, Blake rallied back and was able to break Mathieu to tie the match up at 5-5.

“I did my best to put the pressure back on him and make sure he knew he wasn’t going to get a free game out of it; he was going to have to earn it,” Blake said.

Blake held serve to take a 6-5 lead before successfully being able to break Mathieu for the second straight time to clinch the rubber, giving the United States a 2-0 lead after the first day.

The doubles match on April 12 was a bit of a stumbling block for the Bryan brothers, as they fell 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to Clement and Llodra. The Bryans won the first set, celebrating with doing one of their chest bumps, before the French came back to take the final three sets to hand the Bryans’ their second doubles loss in their Davis Cup career.

The third day of the tie started out with Roddick facing Mathieu, and Mathieu faced the same difficulty that Llodra faced, as Roddick cruised 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to clinch the tie for the Americans. Roddick had 17 aces while only dropping 13 points to clinch the victory, which was followed by a celebration lap by the team around the court on the Joel.

“Obviously it’s been fun, you know, having won the last, I think, six tie,” Roddick said.

The final rubber was between Blake and Gasquet, who had been battling injuries in the days leading up to the tournament – so much so that Gasquet would only play the second rubber on April 13, as he felt that he had little chance of beating Roddick.

Blake defeated Gasquet in the dead rubber 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4 to give the Americans a 4-1 record in the tie.

Due to the nature of the dead rubber, the environment at the Joel was a bit more relaxed, including Roddick tossing a ball at Blake after a game and Blake blasting the ball into the upper deck.

This was the Davis Cup’s third appearance in Winston-Salem, with the other matches occurring against India in 2001 and against Spain in 2007.

With the victory over France, the United States will travel to Spain in September.