 Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Srdjan Stevanovic
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |
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| 05 Mar 2010 - Belgrade, Serbia - SRB v USA - Craig Gabriel | |
| Serbia takes step closer to quarterfinals |
Serbia has created a commanding lead in its Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie against USA at the Beogradska Arena. The home team won both singles on the opening day and both matches were closed out in four sets.
Novak Djokovic claimed the second point when he defeated Sam Querrey, who put up a solid showing. The Serb, however, was able to win the match in three hours, 24 minutes, but it took him five match points to finally triumph 62 76(4) 26 63.
After an intense rally on the fifth match point, Djokovic got the opening and crunched an inside out forehand cross court. Querrey had no opportunity to reach for the return as the world No. 2, much to the delight of the home crowd, yelled out with joy and no doubt some relief.
“It was a very exciting match with a lot of good rallies and excitement in general,” Djokovic said.
“The crowd enjoyed it but I think a lot of people expected me to win in straight sets after having a two sets lead, but he came back in great style, opening the court, serving really well and effective and hitting a lot of winners from the forehand side.
“It was not easy to hold on with the game pace he had, especially with the fact that I didn’t feel that great in the third set physically, I have not had a lot of time on the clay.”
Querrey showed that he is certainly capable of producing the goods on clay and he honestly felt the match could have gone either way.
The American started slowly but he was unfortunate not to clinch the second set tiebreak and, having gone on to win the third set comfortably, he would have had Djokovic very concerned.
“I played well but in the first set I made a few loose errors and I played another loose game early in the fourth set, but as we saw out there it’s just a game here or there,” Querrey said.
“The court was fine even though there were a couple of bad bounces, but that goes both ways. The crowd wasn’t horrible. I thought they were pretty respectful. So, now I have to come back on Sunday (reverse singles) and look forward to playing a live match.”
Troicki overcomes American debutante
Earlier in the day, Viktor Troicki gave the home side an important 1-0 lead when he took three hours, 36 minutes to get past a determined John Isner, who was making his Davis Cup debut, 76(4) 67(5) 75 64.
The match had a few twists and turns. Isner opened up a 5-3 lead in the first set and served for the set only to get broken, something unusual for him in such situations.
“I would like to have gotten that first set, I served for the first set and I usually play better when I have a first set under my belt but it came down to me,” Isner said.
“I had a lot of chances but I just didn’t convert. I felt like I was in a lot of the return games but I just couldn’t convert but that’s a credit to him because he played well.
“I fought hard. I knew I was going to do that. I guess I’m proud, but I knew I was going to fight as hard as I could. It just sucks that I didn’t get the result I wanted.”
There was another crucial moment in the third set when Troicki led 3-1 and had a point to go up a double break, but Isner played some tough tennis at that time and clawed it back. However, he let Troicki off the hook once more.
“The match was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be, he played really well and it’s very hard to get past his serve,” Troicki said.
“I played him on hard court last year and beat him but I think this was tougher because on the clay his ball was bouncing quite high.
“I have to admit I was quite nervous at the start of the match and it was very close in the first two sets. I had chances in the third set but he came back really well. I was glad to be able to win that set.
“In the third and fourth sets I was playing much better than him and I used my chances. There were still some tough games on my serve, but luckily I pretty much won all of them and I was able to give my country the first point.”
So, now its up to the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, to keep USA’s hopes alive. They will take on Nenad Zimonjic, an opponent they have had a lot of trouble with on the regular tour, and Janko Tipsarevic.
Related links
> Twitter
> Tie information
> Audio interviews
> Scorecards & stats
> Troicki faces rookie Isner in opener
Related website
> United States Tennis Association
Related Audio
 Interview with John Isner (USA) - Friday
Interview with Viktor Troicki (SRB) - Friday
Interview with captain Bogdan Obradovic (SRB) - Friday
Interview with Novak Djokovic (SRB) - Friday
Interview with captain Patrick McEnroe (USA) - Friday
Interview with Sam Querrey (USA) - Friday
 
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