Davis Cup: Great Britain vs Hungary

[Sir David Gray]

Great Britain will attempt to get promoted to the second tier of the Davis Cup competition this weekend as they take on Hungary.

Once again, they are playing in Glasgow, at the Braehead Arena.

The first singles rubbers are played this afternoon, with British number two, James Ward, starting things off against Hungary's number two player Attila Balazs. Ward should be the firm favourite in that one as he is more than 100 places above his opponent in the rankings.

Then, following that match, Andy Murray is back in action less than a week since his semi final defeat to Rafael Nadal in New York. Fortunately for him, he won't have to face Nadal this afternoon. He'll have the considerably easier task of taking on Sebo Kiss, who hasn't played a competitive match for over a year and whose last ranking was outside the top 1,000.

The first match begins at 3pm, with live coverage coming on British Eurosport or you can also watch it live via the LTA website.

In the other matches, in the World Group, Spain have just gone 1-0 up in their tie against France as Rafael Nadal has beaten Richard Gasquet in straight sets, just 4 days after losing his US Open title to Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic will also be in action a bit later on as Serbia faces Argentina in Belgrade.

Absolutely amazing from the pair of them that they are playing so soon after such a gruelling match.

[Sir David Gray]

Just a quick edit to my last post, apparently Novak Djokovic has pulled out of his match today with injury and will be replaced by Viktor Troicki.

Clearly Djokovic is the main man, not just in Serbia, but in the world right now but it's not bad that they can call on the world number 16 to replace him.

I just wish Britain had that kind of depth to their squad.

[Sir David Gray]

James Ward's match has just started, both players have held their first service game and it's Hungary to serve at 1-1 in the first set.

[Sir David Gray]

Ward breaks in game three.

GB lead 2-1 in the first set. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Ward wins the first set, 6-4. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Ward breaks in the second set to go 3-2 up. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Ward takes the second set, 6-4! :thumbsup:

Looks like it's going to be a good day for GB. :aok:

[Sir David Gray]

Hungary go a break up in the third set, 2-0. :boo hoo:

[Sir David Gray]

James Ward eventually won his match against Attila Balazs, 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-4, despite having to call on the trainer for an injury.

His victory means that Britain go 1-0 up in the tie against Hungary with 4 ties left to go.

Andy Murray is on just now against Sebo Kiss, who is a student. Murray is currently two sets ahead, with the loss of only two games so far.

Murray's 2-0 up in the third too. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's been taken to a tiebreak in this third set.

Unbelievably sloppy, considering that he was 5-2 up and had 3 match points. :bitchy:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray finally wins 6-0 6-2 7-6.

Very poor end to the match but a win's a win and Britain go 2-0 up in the tie. They're really close to being promoted to the Europe/Africa Group I for next season.

Having looked at some of the countries in that division, it will certainly be a bit more competitive than the ties against Luxembourg and Hungary but with Murray in the squad, they should be looking to getting in to the play-offs for the World Group next year.

[H18sry]

Is Jamie playing in the doubles?

[Jonnyboy]

Murray finally wins 6-0 6-2 7-6.

Very poor end to the match but a win's a win and Britain go 2-0 up in the tie. They're really close to being promoted to the Europe/Africa Group I for next season.

Having looked at some of the countries in that division, it will certainly be a bit more competitive than the ties against Luxembourg and Hungary but with Murray in the squad, they should be looking to getting in to the play-offs for the World Group next year.

Were his ankles tied together? :greengrin

Sure I heard the guy he was playing is a 27 year old trainee solicitor with no tennis world ranking

[Sir David Gray]

Is Jamie playing in the doubles?

No, it'll probably be Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, which makes sense since they've won one title this year together, reached three semis and got to the quarter finals at the last two Grand Slams together.

I don't think Jamie Murray's even made the squad this time.


Were his ankles tied together? :greengrin

Sure I heard the guy he was playing is a 27 year old trainee solicitor with no tennis world ranking

Yep, you heard right, he's a law student at the moment and just plays tennis part-time.

The guy (Sebo Kiss) has played no matches this year and in the previous two years, he's played in just two tournaments. The last time he held a world ranking, which was 2 years ago, it was 1,120 and his career high ranking was 531 in the world.

There was never any doubt that Murray would win that match but it was a disappointing end. Still, at least he got it done in straight sets.

[H18sry]

No, it'll probably be Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, which makes sense since they've won one title this year together, reached three semis and got to the quarter finals at the last two Grand Slams together.

I don't think Jamie Murray's even made the squad this time.





Cheers:thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Great Britain secure their promotion to the second tier of the Davis Cup after a win for Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins in the doubles today.

Good result and hopefully they can push on and make the play offs for the World Group next year.

[Sir David Gray]

The nations who will make up the Europe/Africa Group I have almost all been confirmed.

They are;

Britain

1-Andy Murray (4th in the world)
2-James Ward (149th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Jamie Murray (41) and Colin Fleming (43)

Romania

1-Victor Hanescu (78th in the world)
2-Adrian Ungur (129th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Horia Tecau (13) and Victor Hanescu (110)

Belgium

1-Xavier Malisse (46th in the world)
2-Olivier Rochus (75th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Xavier Malisse (28) and Dick Norman (46)

South Africa

1-Kevin Anderson (34th in the world)
2-Izak Van Der Merwe (128th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Wesley Moodie (75) and Izak Van Der Merwe (98th)

Finland

1-Jarkko Nieminen (45th in the world)
2-Harri Heliovaara (252nd in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Jarkko Nieminen (104) and Harri Heliovaara (182)

Slovenia

1-Blaz Kavcic (98th in the world)
2-Grega Zemlja (121st in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Blaz Kavcic (370) and Grega Zemlja (407)

Netherlands

1-Robin Haase (42nd in the world)
2-Thomas Schoorel (126th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Rogier Wassen (81) and Robin Haase (121)

Portugal

1-Rui Machado (80th in the world)
2-Federico Gil (100th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Leonardo Tavares (239) and Rui Machado (287)

Slovakia

1-Karol Beck (72nd in the world)
2-Martin Klizan (86th in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Michal Mertinak (30) and Filip Polasek (36)

Israel

1-Dudi Sela (96th in the world)
2-Amir Weintraub (182nd in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Andy Ram (31) and Jonathan Erlich (49)

Denmark

1-Frederik Nielsen (191st in the world)
2-Philip Orno (1133rd in the world)

Best doubles pairing-Frederik Nielsen (92) and Philip Orno (1120)

Still to be determined;

Switzerland?

Belgium and Slovakia are certainly the teams to avoid next year. Murray would beat either Rochus or Malisse for Belgium and Karol Beck or Martin Klizan but Ward would struggle to get any joy. I think most of the other nations are beatable though.

[Sir David Gray]

Britain's been handed a pretty tough draw in their first match of the Europe/Africa Group I campaign next year as they have been drawn against Slovakia. They've got a very good doubles pairing and although I didn't realise that Karol Beck, their best singles player, hasn't played Davis Cup since being handed a 2 year ban for drug taking about five years ago, Britain will really be up against it to progress to the next round.

If we do happen to beat Slovakia, we'll then play Belgium, who are also a very strong side.