Zimbabwe win doubles, threaten upset

Zimbabwe’s victory on Saturday sets up the tantalising prospect of the nation’s greatest triumph on home soil in their 24-year Davis Cup history.All now rests on Sunday’s reverse singles. World No 1 Andre Agassi takes on Byron Black in the opening match and Wayne Black is due to play Chris Woodruff.

Rule changes brought in last month, though, mean that US captain John McEnroe can make a substitution with an hour’s notice. He may choose to replace Woodruff who appeared less than confident on theopening day.

SPAIN FIRST TO QUALIFY: Spain became the first team to reach the second round of the World Group Davis Cup on Saturday when their doubles team defeated Italy in straight sets for an insurmountable 3-0 lead in Murcia. Russia also advanced to the second round after Andrei Cherkasov and Marat Safin outlasted Belgium’s top pairing in five sets to give the 1999 semi-finalists a 3-0 lead going into Sunday’s return singles in Moscow.Spaniards Alex Corretja and Joan Balcells defeated the Italian pair of Andrea Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

In Bratislava, Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty combined to pilot Slovakia into the quarter-finals after they took an unbeatable 3-0 lead against Austria.

Kucera and Hrbaty cruised to a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win in the doubles over Alexander Peya and Julian Knowle.

RESULTS

(World Group first round)
At Bratislava: Slovakia 3 bt Austria 0 (Karol Kucera bt Markus Hipfl 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; Dominik Hrbaty bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, Kucera& Hrbaty bt Alexander Peya & Julian Knowle 6-4 6-3 6-4).

At Murcia, Spain: Spain 3 bt Italy 0 (Albert Costa bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; Alex Corretja (Spa) bt Andrea Gaudenzi 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1; Corretja & Joan Balcells bt Gaudenzi & Diego Nargiso 6-4 6-3 6-1).

At Moscow: Russia 3 bt Belgium 0 (Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Filip Dewulf 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; Marat Safin bt Christophe Rochus 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, Andrei Cherkasov & Safin bt Christophe & Olivier Rochus 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-1, 6-3).

At Harare: Zimbabwe 2 USA 1 (Wayne Black lost to Andre Agassi 5-7 3-6 5-7; Byron Black bt Chris Woodruff 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-2; Wayne & Kevin Ullyet bt Rick Leach & Alex O’Brien 7-6 (4) 5-7 0-6 7-5 7-5.

At Ostrava, Czech Republic: Czech Republic 1 Britain 1 (Slava Dosedel lost to Tim Henman 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 1-6, 5-7, 3-6; Jiri Novak bt Jamie Delgado 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3).

At Florianopolis, Brazil: Brazil 2 France 0 (Fernando Meligeni bt Cedric Pioline 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Gustavo Kuerten bt JeromeGolmard 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2).

At Leipzig, Germany: Germany 1 Netherlands 1 (Thomas Haas bt John Van Lottum 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-2; Rainer Schuttler lost to Sjeng Schalken 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 1-6, 0-6).

At Zurich: Switzerland 1 Australia 1 (George Bastl lost to Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 4-6; Roger Federer bt Mark Philippoussis 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4). At Kiev: Ukraine 2 Portugal 0 (Andrei Dernovsky bt Joao Cunha-Silva 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-4, Andrei Medvedev bt Bernardo Mota 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-2).