USA Downs Switzerland To Advance in Davis Cup

February 6, 2017 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff

The United States Davis Cup team routed a star-less Switzerland team over the weekend, winning all five flights to notch a 5-0 win over the Swiss in the World Group first round at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Americans move on to face Australia in the quarterfinals in April.

“My overall thoughts are that this is a new day for U.S. tennis in Davis Cup,” United States captain Jim Courier said. “We had such a great generation with Andy Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish and Bob and Mike (Bryan); they had been a part of this team in one way or another for so many years and now this generation is taking over. So to get off to a good start and win 3-0 and move into the quarterfinals and have a chance to do some damage in our first year in this alignment is really a fantastic thing.”

The new generation of American tennis battled against a Swiss team without Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, and made sure to avoid any let down. Jack Sock won the opening match with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 over Marco Chiudinelli, and John Isner bolstered the American lead with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(1) victory over Henri Laaksonen in the first two rubbers on Friday evening.

Sock paired up with Steve Johnson in Saturday’s third rubber, knocking off Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(5) in the doubles match to clinch the United States victory.

With the victory in hand, Sunday’s two rubbers were reduced to best-of-three matches, and the Americans completed the sweep. Sam Querrey defeated Bossel 6-3, 7-5 and Johnson beat Antoine Bellier 6-4, 6-3.

The United States takes on Australia, who defeated the Czech Republic 4-1 over the weekend, in the quarterfinals in April.

“We battled hard and we snuck a win out last year and we will try the same this year but we expect a really, really hard contest,” Courier added, referring to the American’s win in Australia last March. “Remember it was grass last year, but if we look at the big picture, playing on a hard court, playing with a different combination of our players; I expect a different combination of their players, I don’t think Lleyton (Hewitt) will participate in the doubles the way he did last year. It’s hard to draw comparisons, but obviously we want to have the same result.”


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
USTA NTC

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