 Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |
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| 08 Mar 2009 - The Baltic Hall, Malmo - Peter Bengtsson - SWE v ISR | |
| Mammoth match seals Israel victory |
There was joy for Harel Levy as Israel completed a remarkable comeback to defeat Sweden 3-2 in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie in Malmo today. The 30-year-old defeated home town player Andreas Vinciguerra 64 46 64 36 86 in 3 hours 34 minutes to inspire celebrations among his teammates and the small but enthusiastic group of Israeli supporters.
This is only the second time in its history that Israel has reached the World Group quarterfinals, and the team can now look forward to a home tie against Russia. For Sweden it was the first defeat ever in the Davis Cup history leading 2-1, since the country made the debut in the tournament in 1925.
Historical achievement by Israel
“We made history this weekend and I hope people at home appreciate our win over a fantastic Davis Cup country”, we have learned a lot from the Swedish team from last year. How they had a good spirit together and behaved very professional. We are also really looking forward to a quarterfinal against Russia in July," said the captain Eyal Ran in the final press conference.
A year ago it had been a disconsolate Levy who lost the deciding rubber against Jonas Bjorkman in Israel’s 3-2 first round defeat by Sweden in Tel Aviv, the hosts having gone into the final day with a 2-1 lead. There was therefore a strange symmetry to today’s results, which saw Sweden squander a 2-1 lead in Davis Cup for the first time in its long Davis Cup history. There was symmetry too in the tie’s four singles rubbers, all of which were five-set contests lasting over three hours.
“Fantastic. Amazing, my best day ever. And playing two matches this weekend with a 86 result in the fifth. It was so close a point here and there. I feel sorry for Vinciguerra and maybe Sweden lost the tie because they didn´t have the normal advantage of a home crowd," Levy said.
There was also a similarity between today’s final two competitors, who have both had long battles with injury throughout their careers. Levy has undergone hip surgery, while Vinciguerra had not competed professionally since October 2006 due to ongoing problems with his knees.
Never say die attitude
“I don’t want to see a tennis racket or a tennis ball for a few days, maybe ever," Vinciguerra admitted and continued: “It this had been a normal match in a tournament I probably given up after two sets”.
Despite both Vinciguerra and Levy losing long matches on the opening day, it soon became clear that neither player was going to suffer the fitness problems experienced by Thomas Johansson in Sunday’s opening match. However it was Levy who found his rhythm more quickly, breaking serve in the third game and holding on to take the opening set 64.
With Vinciguerra struggling for consistency, it looked as though the Israeli was going to take control of the match, but the Swede managed to save ten break points in the second set before converting the first break point of his own to level the match.
Single breaks of serve were enough to secure the third and fourth sets for Levy and Vinciguerra respectively to set the scene for a dramatic 14-game decider. The Swede was left to rue missed break point opportunities at 4-4 and 5-5, only to save a match point at 5-6 with a serve and volley winner. Similar tactics saved a match point at 6-7, but two points later the Swede missed a forehand to send half of the crowd wild.
Tennis the winner in Malmo
“I feel so sorry for Vinciguerra because he doesn’t have the chance like the rest of the guys to go to next tournament directly, do a good result and forget this. He is not playing regularly on the tour and under normal circumstances we would not ask Thomas and Vinci to play for their country coming back from injuries but the team spirit is fantastic and they wanted to play,” Wilander explained.
Eyal Ran who celebrated the birth of his first son last weekend was very proud and also wanted to thank the security staff for the special week in Sweden and when media asked again about the political situation he just added.
“I think tennis was the winner of this weekend. A fantastic sports event and great matches, ” he said.
Related Links on other websites
> Information in Swedish – Tennis Sweden
> Information in Hebrew - ITA
Related Links on Daviscup.com
> Tie Information
> Scorecards and statistics
> Dudi Sela forces a deciding fifth
> Sweden go 2-1 up
> Sela does the business
> Winning return for Johansson
> Wilander gambles with comeback players
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