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Argentine captain Tito Vazquez and Leonardo Mayer

Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 07 Mar 2010

Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 07 Mar 2010

Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 07 Mar 2010

Swedish captain Thomas Enqvist and Robin Soderling

Photographer: Arne Forsell
Date: 07 Mar 2010

07 Mar 2010 - Stockholm, Sweden - SWE v ARG - Lee Goodall

Nalbandian leads Argentina to classic win

David Nalbandian was the hero of the hour for Argentina in Stockholm on Sunday after winning the deciding rubber of an enthralling tie to earn his team a nail-biting 3-2 victory over Sweden.

Up until Thursday afternoon, a recent leg injury meant the Argentine former world No. 3 wasn’t even in the country, but ultimately he proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Nalbandian weighed in to win Saturday’s doubles alongside Horacio Zeballos, before clinching the tie for the visitors with a four-set victory over Andreas Vinciguerra late on Sunday evening.

Nalbandian gamble pays off

After Robin Soderling had levelled the tie at 2-2 by beating Leonardo Mayer in the first match of the final day’s play, Argentine captain Tito Vazquez gambled on bringing Nalbandian in for the deciding rubber.

His bravery paid off as Nalbandian produced a focused performance to beat Vinciguerra 75 63 46 64, a victory that puts Argentina into the quarterfinals of the World Group with a visit to Russia in July to look forward to.

Nalbandian had been expected to miss the first round meeting altogether and with Juan Martin Del Potro and Juan Monaco also sidelined, the odds were stacked against the visitors before he jetted into Stockholm on Thursday night and delivered two vital points on the final two days.

Stockholm must be a city Nalbandian is beginning to take to – it’s not the first time he has tasted success in the Swedish capital having won the ATP World Tour event held at the same venue in 2008.

Sweden makes changes

Sweden’s captain Thomas Enqvist had his own big decision to make in picking world No. 232 Vinciguerra over the nominated Joachim Johansson for the decider, and it was looking like a good move when Vinciguerra secured an early break to lead 3-1 in the opening set of his showdown with Nalbandian.

But once Nalbandian found his range in only his fourth match since undergoing hip surgery last May he always looked like the player who had something extra in the tank, raising his game at the key stages of the match.

Nalbandian quickly recovered the early break and with Vinciguerra serving at 5-6 he pounced once again, producing a perfect game on return to break to love and wrap up the set. Again he showed his class at just the right moments in the second, breaking the Swede at 4-3 before serving out the set with ease to take a tight grip on the match.

Nalbandian in control

Although Vinciguerra rallied to steal a tight third set, Nalbandian’s challenge was soon back on track when he broke in game three of the fourth and held for 3-1. From then on Nalbandian was never really threatened on serve, holding for the remainder of the set to wrap up the tie.

Afterwards, Nalbandian admitted that despite playing the match he was far from 100 per cent fit. “I woke up good but after warming up I felt a little uncomfortable in my leg but we made the decision for me to play,” he said.

“I didn’t feel good from the beginning. After I won the first set I felt my leg and it felt worse with every point but I just tried to give 100 per cent and today it was enough. We all did a great job all weekend. All the guys played a very high level and I want to congratulate them all.”

For Vazquez it had been a challenging but highly successful week in Sweden. “We didn’t know about David until ten minutes before the match whether he was able to play or willing to play,” the captain revealed.

“It was a last minute decision – we took the responsibility and he also took the responsibility but if something would have happened [to his leg] it would have been a problem.”

Argentina ready to party

Finally, though, it was time for the visitors to start planning the celebrations. “I’ll definitely have a glass of wine but I won’t be able to keep up with my players,” Vazquez said. “They are very excited – I think they might be awake all night long!”

In the end, it was a disappointing conclusion to the weekend for Sweden, who had started the day strongly thanks to another fine performance from Soderling. The world No. 7 raised his game at just the right stages of each set against Mayer to come away with a 75 76(5) 75 victory, his second of the weekend.

Soderling does his bit

Soderling broke at 6-5 in the opening set, played some fabulous tennis during the closing stages of the second set tie-break and again saved his best tennis until just the right time in the third set to thwart a brave attempt by 22-year-old Mayer, playing only the third Davis Cup by BNP Paribas rubber of his life.

“It was close,” Soderling admitted afterwards. “I didn’t play my best tennis today but overall it was a good match because I played well at the end of all three sets. The longer the match went on the better I played.”

For Sweden a World Group Play-off in September awaits, a tie the seven-time champions must win to avoid dropping out of the competition’s elite for the first time since 1999.

“It’s very important for the players and for Swedish tennis in general that we stay in the World Group and that’s what we’ll try to do,” said Enqvist, who was in charge as captain for the first time this weekend.

“It’s tough to lose the decider today but you have to give credit to the Argentine team who played well the whole weekend. In the end they were just a bit too good.”

Interview with Robin Soderling (SWE) - Sunday

Interview with Thomas Enqvist (SWE) - Sunday

Interview with David Nalbandian (ARG) - Sunday

Interview with Tito Vazquez (ARG) - Sunday

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