Juniors Stepping Up to the Plate; Davis Cup Recap

Through my crazy weekend at my first college tennis tournament, I did have time to follow the Davis Cup. However, blogging from my phone wasn't easy so I kept that to a minimum. I also faced difficulties with my selections, as team captains can change nominations up to an hour before the match. So with that, some of my picks became off and wrong as a result. This morning, I did change as many picks as possible but I don't think I got them all.

Without taking changes into consideration, I went 15-5 today and 37-13 for the weekend. Not bad for having captains change their lineups without me noticing.

I went 7-3 in terms of predicting the overall ties.

Here is a recap of this weekends events:

Serbia and Czech Republic will meet in the Davis Cup final, after both teams won 3-2 in their semifinal. The Czech's clinched the tie at 3-0 with ease, but the Serbs had more trouble on their hands. After being down 2-1 going into Sunday, world number 1 (for now) Novak Djokovic lead his team as he got passed Canadian Milos Raonic in straight sets. His teammate Janko Tipsarevic did the same thing as he defeated young Canadian Vasek Pospisil in straight sets as well. Pospisil may have been hurt, but nonetheless the Serbians are advancing.

In the World Group playoffs, here are the teams advancing:
Spain
Japan
Switzerland
Germany
Great Britain
Australia
Belgium
Netherlands

Austrian Jurgen Melzer and Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci both had horrible weekends, as Bellucci lost both matches in straight sets that I favored him to win in (against Germany). Jurgen Melzer also didn't help the cause for Austria (losing to Netherlands), as he lost a 5 setter to Thiemo de Bakker and then lost in straight sets to Jesse Huta Galung (who was just a replacement for Robin Haase).

Also, it was noticeable that a few juniors and college players had eventful weekends in Davis Cup: Here's a list of the players:

Borna Coric (Croatia): The US Open Junior Singles champion made his Davis Cup debut against Andy Murray from Great Britain, falling 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Emilio Gomez (Ecuador): The recent USC graduate lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to Stan Wawrinka and in doubles fell with former USC teammate Roberto Quiroz 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4 to Stan Wawrinka and Michael Lammer.

Roberto Quiroz (Ecuador): The USC junior lost in doubles with Gomez as noted, and lost in singles to Michael Lammer 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

Nick Krygios (Australia): The Australian Open Junior Champion got to play in his first live rubber as he paired up with Chris Guiccione to take on Matkowski and Fyrstenberg from Poland. The Polish team came on top however 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. Krygios also played a dead rubber as he beat Michal Przysiezny 4-1 before the Pole retired.

Christian Garin (Chile): The French Open Junior Champion had to step it up for Chile as they played the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, Garin lost his singles live rubber 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 against Victor Estrella. He did however bounce back to win his dead singles rubber 7-5, 7-5.

Blaz Rola (Slovenia): The Ohio State Buckeye (senior) and 2 time NCAA Champion (once in singles, once in doubles with Chase Buchanan) won 2 out of his 3 matches this weekend again South Africa. Rola won the first singles rubber against Rik de Voest 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. He then teamed with Blaz Kavcic in doubles to beat Klaasen and Scholtz 7-5, 6-1, 7-6. After winning his 2 live rubbers, he lost his dead one in singles against Nikala Scholtz after retiring when Rola was up 3-2.

Mikelis Libietis (Latvia): Against Finland, the University of Tennessee junior lost his first match in singles 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. He then teamed with Ernests Gulbis to defeat the sibling pair of Henri and Micke Kontinen 6-2, 7-6, 6-3. Libietis is ranked number 1 in the ITA Preseason Singles Rankings.

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