Serbia will face hosts Germany in the final of the World Team Cup after seeing off Italy on Friday as the debutants finished the round-robin stage undefeated.
The Serbian doubles pairing of Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic ensured their team’s place in today’s final against the Germans by beating the Italians Francesco Piccari and Andreas Seppi 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).
The Serbs are making their finals debut and the only two other newcomers who have gone on to reach the final are Yugoslavia and Croatia. Yugoslavia won the title 2-1 over Sweden on its debut in 1990, while Croatia lost the 1995 final 2-1 to Sweden on their first entry.
PHOTO: EPA
Germany’s doubles team Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev put the hosts in their seventh World Team Cup final when they defeated Sweden’s Robin Soderling and Robert Lindstedt 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 13-11 to seal a 2-1 win.
In a gripping and often nerve-wracking battle, the pair held their nerve in the third set tie-breaker to give Germany a chance at their fifth title today.
Serbia’s doubles victory meant Argentina’s win over Russia in the Blue Group counted for nothing after Maximo Gonzales defeated Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday.
On short notice, Gonzalez stood in for Juan Monaco del Potro, who was suffering from a wrist injury in the doubles match, but the game was decided quickly after the Russian pair were forced to retire with injury to seal a 2-0 win to Argentina.
■AUSTRIAN OPEN
AP, KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and Julien Benneteau of France was set to play in the Austrian Open final yesterday.
In Friday’s semi-finals, Garcia-Lopez beat seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5) and Benneteau defeated Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-3, 6-4.
It will be the first ATP Tour final for Garcia-Lopez. Benneteau has lost both of his previous finals — in Casablanca, Morocco, and Lyon, France, last year.
Benneteau is 1-0 against Garcia-Lopez after beating the Spaniard at the 2006 Australian Open in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old Spaniard, ranked No. 74 in the world, used an early break to win the opening set before Youzhny, the only seeded player left in the tournament, dominated the second with a more attacking approach.
The Russian, who reached the final of the BMW Open in Munich this month, saved a match point at 5-4 down in the decider when Garcia-Lopez hit a backhand return long.
In the tiebreaker, Garcia-Lopez converted his fifth match point with a forehand cross winner.
The 45th-ranked Benneteau was broken while serving for the match at 5-2, but closed it out in his next service game on his first match point when Hernandez missed a backhand.
Benneteau had lost in last Sunday’s final qualifying round but entered the main draw when Nicolas Devilder of France pulled out with an ankle injury.
■STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Aravane Rezai of France beat Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2 on Friday in the semi-finals of the Strasbourg International.
Rezai was set to play Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic in the final yesterday. Both will be chasing their first singles title on the WTA Tour.
“No French player has won this tournament,” said Rezai, ranked No. 79 in the world. “I really hope to be the first one to do it.”
Past winners include Jennifer Capriati, Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport.
Rezai was broken three times in the first set, but she took advantage of Kutuzova’s serve as the Ukrainian double faulted 10 times.
“I couldn’t play like I wanted to, I couldn’t hit winners,” Rezai said. “But I nevertheless managed to win, and that’s what is important.”
In the second set, Rezai held her serve and broke Kutuzova twice.
Hradecka advanced after Japan’s Ayumi Morita retired when trailing 6-0, 1-0 after injuring her left thigh while serving in the first set.
However, Morita hopes to recover in time for the French Open, where she will face Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the first round.
Hradecka, ranked No. 84 in the world, converted three of six break points.
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