Spain and USA will meet in the final of the inaugural Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas in a battle between the two top seeds after coming through their respective semifinals earlier today.
Top seeded Spain defeated surprise semifinalists Uruguay 3-0 to maintain their unbeaten record this week. Joan Llorens’ team have won all twelve of their matches here in La Baule – a formidable record - and will be hoping to win their country a third 16 & Under boys’ title on Saturday.
USA were made to work harder for their final berth after Australia won the opening singles. Once again, the Americans had to rely on their doubles team to see them through 2-1, eventually securing their fourth final since the competition began in 1985.
Ricardo Acuna, US captain, said, “It feels pretty good to be in the final. My expectations coming into this week were that we’d finish at least in the top four. We’ve just come in from a hard court season and had a tough group so the guys have done well. They’ve been playing pretty good doubles and that’s really helped.”
With the sun shining again in La Baule, the atmosphere in the Tennis Country Club Barriere was relaxed, despite it being boys’ semifinals day. Play was punctuated with the occasional shrieks of the seagulls - a reminder that the Atlantic Ocean is almost within lobbing distance. La Baule is a pretty coastal town with a strong sporting tradition which encompasses golf, yachting, horse racing and, naturally, tennis. No wonder then that many local inhabitants have gathered here every day to enjoy the tennis and acquaint themselves with the stars of the future.
Today’s semifinals promised two contrasting styles of play. While the Spanish and Uruguayans clearly felt at home on the terre battue, the Americans and Australians tried their best to adapt their hard court game to the slower surface.
In truth, the Spanish never looked threatened in today’s singles matches. Tomeu Salva defeated Federico Sansonetti 62 62 to set up Spain’s victory with their No. 1 Rafael Nadel coming through against Pablo Cuevas 64 61 to give the Europeans an unassailable lead in the best of three tie. Spain then secured the doubles with Marcel Granollers and Rafael Nadel defeating Cuevas and Sansonetti 61 64.
Despite missing out on their first every place in the 16 & Under boys’ final, Uruguayan captain Luis Maccio praised his team’s efforts.
“I didn’t expect them to get so far – perhaps fifth place but that was it,” he said afterwards, before adding, “The boys have enjoyed representing their country and it’s been a good learning process for them and will help their future.”
“I felt that Federico’s match score was not really a reflection on the match. Many of the games went to deuce and were quite close. Tomeu Salva was very consistent from the baseline,” he observed. Salva also made good use of his powerful forehand, despite Sansonetti’s efforts to counterattack.
The clash between both teams’ top players, Nadel and Cuevas, promised much. The first set was tight, containing powerful shotmaking and absorbing chess like rallies. Showing his class, Nadel broke serve and took the first set leaving Cuevas with the pressure of having to keep Uruguay in the tie – a task too much. In the second set, Nadel pressed home his advantage with aggressive groundstrokes and smart play. He will be tough to beat on his favourite surface this week.
There was disappointment for Australia too who were hopeful of success against USA after a tremendous performance from Lachlan Ferguson saw the Aussies take the first singles in their semifinal.
“That was probably the best I’ve ever seen him play,” said captain Michael Baroch. “He played awesome tennis.
He added, “This was definitely a winnable tie. Having said that, we were pretty lucky to get through against Belarus yesterday. I’m disappointed for the boys as you don’t often get the chance to play this level of tennis for your country.”
In the second singles, Brendan Evans outplayed a nervous Joel Kerley to put America back in contention to the joy of his watching team-mates. Evans made it harder than it should have been however. In the second set, helped by a spate of errors from the American, Kerley fought back to 4-all and a third set beckoned. Evans regained his composure, played percentage tennis and succeeded in taking the match 63 75.
Acuna said, “Brendan did exactly what I asked him to do – he played conservatively and got the result.”
Once again the Americans were forced to dig themselves out of trouble in the doubles with Scott Oudesma and Phillip Simmonds defeating Ferguson and Kerley 64 63 to take USA to the final. Rallies were entertaining with all four players displaying terrier like qualities.
Each of the boys had a ‘team look’ with the lanky American boys wearing identical kit, even down to the Stars and Stripes handkerchief tied at the knee in commemoration of those who died on September 11th last year. They have played together since January 2002 and combine well. “We have good chemistry and are the best of friends,” said Simmonds.
Smaller versions of their opponents, the Aussies were also dressed in the de rigeur baggy shorts, reversed baseball caps and their particular team trademark, bright orange sports sunglasses.
It wasn’t to be Australia’s day however. Their play was inspired in patches but not nearly consistent enough. As their captain was later to point out, “The boys were down 30 straightaway but got it back to 3-all. They then served two double faults and missed a smash. You just can’t expect to win with play like that… We served 12 double faults in the match – that’s three games’ worth.”
The Americans now face clay court experts, Spain – without doubt, their toughest tie yet. “We’ve got to play our game,” said Acuna. “If we play a different game then it’s not going to work.”
This is the first time that the American captain has guided a national team to the boys’ 16 & Under final. The American boys won their Regional Qualifying Round in the then called NEC World Youth Cup last year but were unable to compete in the finals in Chile because of the September 11th attacks. For Acuna, today’s result is a welcome compensation.
Four play off ties also took place earlier today with France defeating South Africa 2-1 while Germany enjoyed a good 3-0 win over Belarus in the battle for positions 5-8. South America fared well in the 9-12 positional play offs with Argentina and Brazil coming through 3-0 against Korea and Greece respectively.
Tomorrow, France take on Germany to decide the 5th and 6th positions, while South Africa and Belarus will play for 7th and 8th positions. Greece and Korea will compete for 11th and 12th positions. China, Croatia, Japan and Mexico will contest positions 13-16.
Play begins at 10.30am tomorrow.
