What a memorable Davis Cup weekend, with some massive performances by Andy Murray and Lleyton Hewitt.
Great Britain – France: 3-1
Gilles Simon defeats James Ward 6-4 6-4 6-1
Andy Murray defeats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5 7-6 6-2
Andy and Jamie Murray defeat Nicolas Mahut/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6 6-3 7-6 6-1
Andy Murray defeats Gilles Simon 4-6 7-6 6-3 6-0
One more disillusion for the French team after their defeat in the final last year. Despite 3 top 20 players in their team (Simon, Tsonga and Gasquet), they could not beat Team GB at Queen’s club this weekend. Andy Murray won three matches in as many days to propel Great Britain into the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time in 34 years.
We think Leon Smith sums it up perfectly! #Legend #Respect #DavisCup pic.twitter.com/1EUvYt5kID
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) July 19, 2015
Probably my favourite pic from the weekend. #DavisCup. #proudmumtweet pic.twitter.com/WVkazDeKa3
— judy murray (@judmoo) July 20, 2015
Australia – Kazakhstan: 3-2
Mikhail Kukushkin defeats Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4 6-3 6-3
Aleksander Nedovyesov defeats Nick Kyrgios 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-4
Sam Groth/Lleyton Hewitt defeat Andrey Golubev/Aleksander Nedovyesov 6-4 7-6 6-2
Sam Groth defeats Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 7-6 4-6 7-6
Lleyton Hewitt defeats Aleksander Nedovyesov 7-6 6-2 6-3
Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios were respectively 3 and 4 when Lleyton Hewitt played his first Davis Cup match back in 1999. And this weekend the soon-to-retire showed them how the job has to be done. After the surprising defeats of the young guns, Groth and Hewitt won the doubles on Saturday, and on Sunday Sam Groth levelled the tie against Mikhail Kukushkin. Hewitt then defeated Nedovyesov in straight sets to complete Australia’s first 0-2 comeback since 1939.
Sunday's #DavisCup #PhotoOfTheDay is @lleytonhewitt after he sealed Australia's 0-2 comeback & sent them to the semis pic.twitter.com/Ibx278ZYie
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) July 19, 2015
The Emirates Arena in Glasgow is the favourite to host the much anticipated semi-final clash between Great Britain and Australia, that will meet for the 13th time, with the Aussies leading 8-4 and having won the last three.
Andy Murray and Lleyton Hewitt are ready to rumble:
See you in September @lleytonhewitt @TKokkinakis @NickKyrgios
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 19, 2015
Looking forward to it champ @andy_murray #GBRvAUS https://t.co/xsO4sm0MCT
— Lleyton Hewitt (@lleytonhewitt) July 20, 2015
The Australian-Serbian pair needed less than an hour to defeat 20 yr old Hao-Ching Chan and doubles veteran Max Mirnyi.
It is Sam second mixed doubles Wimbledon title (she claimed the 2008 title with Bob Bryan) and first for Zimonjic, who has the Australian Open and the French Open twice.
After Li Na and Stéphanie Foretz practice sessions, I head back to Court 17 to watch the third set between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Melinda Czink. Another ugly win for the Russian, but a win is a win. 4-6 6-3 6-3 for Anastasia who will face Klara Zakopalova in the third round.
After watching Haas, Malisse and co at practice, it was time for me to watch some matches!
First, on Court 14: Varvara Lepchenko against Ksenia Pervak. I gave up after 3 games: to hear those two grunting like crazy after a few points, not for me, thanks.
For the record, Lepchenko won in 3 disputed sets.
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This week, I’m in London, for a bit of sightseeing …
and (of course) for a bit of tennis:
The Queens tournament (its sponsored name is currently Aegon Championships, previously: Stella Artois Championships) is one of the most prestigious ATP tournament, and one of only five played on grass (the other 4 are: Gerry Weber Open in Halle, UNICEF Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, AEGON International in Eastbourne and the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport).
