USA Cruises Into Quarterfinals
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Title holders USA secured themselves a spot in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, ousting first round hosts Austria 4-1 in Vienna.
Andy Roddick and James Blake gave Patrick McEnroe’s team a 2-0 lead before the Bryan brothers won the doubles to lift the outfit to an untouchable 3-0 advantage.
The third point for USA was probably the most predictable one, as the Bryan twins have only lost one of their 14 doubles matches on Davis Cup level, against Croatia in 2005. Albeit facing the world’s number six doubles player, Julian Knowle, Mike and Bob Bryan whooshed through the match, overcoming Knowle/Melzer in straight sets 61 64 62 in only 90 minutes. “We had absolutely no chance today”, Knowle showed disappointment. “Had they stayed with us for some time, then the clash could have been tight. But Mike and I really had a good day and clay is our favourite surface”, Bob Bryan explained.
In the dead rubbers, Bob Bryan celebrated a surprising singles victory, while his brother Mike Bryan had to retire with a hamstring injury.
Austrian hopes were high ahead of the tie and memories of the close 2-3 battle between the country’s tennis heroes Thomas Muster, Horst Skoff and Alex Antonitsch against Andre Agassi and his Likes from 1990 were fresh. Rolling out the red carpet, the hosts had a very slow clay court laid out and sold 6,500 tickets at low prices to create the perfect Davis Cup home atmosphere.
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