TERRIBLE START

Argentina has had a terrible start to their Davis Cup semi final clash against Czech Republic. At the end of the first day, the visitors were down by 2-0 and now, Czech Republic just needs one victory to cruise into the final.

In the first singles match of the tie, Radek Stepanek took on Juan Monaco and managed to outclass him easily.  Stepanek won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2.

Stepanek has come into this tie with some great form. He has just lifted the US Open men’s doubles trophy and he is full of confidence at the moment.

He looked just a little bit rusty in the first few games of the opening set today, but, he quickly got his rhythm back and took Monaco apart.

Talking to the reporters in the evening, Stepanek said, “The start wasn’t great for me, but, after spending a bit of time there, I started timing the shots well.”

On the other hand, Monaco was of the opinion that the pace in the surface helped the Czech player.

Monaco said, “A few chances came my way in the opening set, but, I couldn’t really make the most of them.”

“Radek was fantastic today. The surface was quick and that was idle for him.”

Czech Republic’s lead got extended to 2-0 later in the day when Tomas Berdych got better of Leonardo Mayer in 4 sets. Berdych won the match by 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Argentina hasn’t won the Davis Cup even once so far. Last year, they were beaten by Czech Republic in the semi finals and they are in danger of being knocked out by the same opponent this year as well.

In the press conference at the end of the day’s play, the skipper of Argentina Martin Jaite said, “It hasn’t finished yet. We can still bounce back.”