Blake and Roddick hand USA lead in Davis Cup quarter-final
Saturday, 12 Apr 2008 10:23
Blake was forced to work hard for his victory over Paul-Henrie Mathieu
The USA claimed a 2-0 lead after the first day of their Davis Cup tie against France in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Roddick won the first rubber against Michael Llodra in straight sets before Blake won a five-set epic against Paul-Henrie Mathieu to put the defending champions in control.
The former US Open champion dominated the match against Llodra thanks to his big serve. Roddick won 6-4 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/5) as the Frenchman rarely threatened to break serve.
Blake did not find it as easy against Mathieu. Each man claimed a set on a tie break before Blake won the third set with one break of serve. Mathieu then followed suit in the fourth set to take it to a decider.
The Frenchman was leading in the fifth set and had two match points at 5-4 but Blake broke twice at the end of the set to claim victory 7-5.
Blake admitted it had been close but said the deciding factors were in his favour.
He explained: "Against a player of a very similar level, 12 in the world, it came down to one-two points, who is at home, who has the surface that’s right for them, down to confidence."
In the other Davis Cup quarter-finals, Spain lead Germany 2-0, while Russia and Czech Republic are level at 1-1, as are Sweden and Argentina.
World number two Rafael Nadal beat Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7/5) 6-0 6-3 to give Spain an early lead before David Ferrer won the second rubber against Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 6-4 6-2.
In Moscow Marat Safin beat Tomas Berdych to put Russia ahead of Czech Republic before Radek Stepanek overcame Igor Andreev to level the tie.
There were victories for David Nalbandian and Robin Soderling in Buenos Aries as Argentina and Sweden shared the spoils on day one.