Who would have thought that such a story would happen to Kolya Davydenko. And with whom - with Mathieu, who never rose above 32nd in the ranking, he played the last final in his career in 2003, and did not win a single set against Davydenko in the history of their relationship in ATP.
And how it all began well: Nikolai won the first set in 34 minutes with a clear advantage - 6: 2, and nothing portended trouble. The key to this match, perhaps, was the moment in the second set with a score of 2: 2. The Russian, leading 40:15 in his account, made some simple mistakes, and Mathieu drew the first breakpoint in the match. We must pay tribute to the Frenchman, he disposed of them correctly - he beautifully received right through and was like that.
Guy Forge said before the match that you can’t get through the Russians if you do not believe in victory. Mathieu just believed. So he believed that he began to serve better and make less mistakes, and Nikolai, on the contrary, had an opposite tendency. Mathieu “raised” the feed from 46% to 73%, Kohl “lowered” from 85% to 62%. But on the first serve, when it turned out, Davydenko played not in the best way: in the third set, for example, he won with less than half the points. As a result, over the past three sets, Mathieu earned 14 breakpoints, while Nikolai had only 3, and in general, the Russian made almost twice as many unforced errors during the match.
Very revealing Kolya played the end of the match. It is significant in the sense that this ending, in general, by the strength of nervous tension, was no different from the whole match - such a strain, no extravaganza, a quiet and sad end - 2: 6, 1: 6, 5: 7. And the post-match press conference came out in the same tone. Kolya simply said that he could not promptly readjust for playing on the ground. He also scolded the coach for his bad backhand. That's all. And Mathieu had a strain. He won this match on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was enough to see how much effort of will he forced himself to take risks in order to get a double matchball. And the post-match press conference at Mathieu turned out to be a match: “This is fantastic! Although this is not a victory over Federer at Wimbledon, but I'm still happy. " Still - on the fifth attempt, he finally defeated the Russian in the Davis Cup.
Southern - that’s who showed the real Russian character. That Russian character, which, perhaps, actually does not exist in nature, as well as female logic, but when you see such matches, you believe that it exists. Initially, the odds were approximately equal. Gasquet is a very strong opponent, moves well on the court, has an unforgettable backhand, but after all, Yuzhny, according to Sobkin, is “not a gift lately”, and his backhand is no worse.
However, Misha started the match so briskly that the version of the equality of forces somehow resolved by itself. Suffice it to say that for the first three games in the match, Gasquet was able to win only one point - and that was only because it was Yuzhny who pulled the ball into the net. In the second set Richard came to his senses and began to resist, but failed to put an end to Operation Storm and Onslaught - Yuzhny was simply magnificent.
The injury received by Michael as a result of a fall in the third set somewhat changed the game’s pattern. Gasquet would probably have seized the third set anyway - he had no choice. But Yuzhny eased his task a little. It is unlikely that anyone would blame Misha if he lost this match. Even in spite of the fact that he missed four matchballs, he still has a human injury. All the more valuable is the victory gained in the bloody fifth set, where according to the rules there are no tie-breaks, and actually saved us from an early defeat in tomorrow's doubles meeting.
I wanted, of course, 2-0. And it was real, but the score 1: 1 at the end of the first day is also an acceptable result. At least it will not allow the team to relax - a contrast shower is good for health. So we will wait for the continuation, but with other heroes. Nikolay Davydenko said that he would really like to play on Sunday with Gasquet, but, of course, he would understand Tarpishchev if he put someone else on the match. And the South is unlikely to be able to recover by Sunday. It's a pity. We will miss him.
Ksenia VITRYAK