In a day normally reserved for the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, it was Mardy Fish and John Isner who put the United States into a 2-1 lead over Colombia Saturday with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over Robert Farah and Carlos Salamanca in Bogota.
The United States will need to win one of Sunday’s two remaining singles matches to win the Play-off Round series and qualify for the 2011 Davis Cup World Group and be eligible to win the Davis Cup title. A win by either Mardy Fish over Santiago Giraldo in the opening match Sunday or Sam Querrey against Alejandro Falla will send Patrick McEnroe out a winner in his finale as U.S. captain.
McEnroe said that he did not select the No. 1-ranked Bryan twins to their normally pre-ordained Davis Cup doubles team position so he could be more nimble in inter-changing players in the singles line-up, in case the 8,500-feet of elevation negatively affected the health of one of the singles players.
“The altitude had a lot to do with it (absence of Bryans),” says McEnroe. “I felt that we might need a couple of extra singles players. Fortunately, Mardy gives us choices as a great singles and doubles player.”
Fish was the chief instigator on the court, taking command of a majority of the points and shrugging off the enourmous pressure placed on him and Isner to win the match and put the United States into the important 2-1 lead. With the Colombian crowd cheering their team and jeering the U.S. team, Fish would often ignore the crowd noise – and the chair umpire’s calls for “Silencio por favor” – and serve through the noise, choosing to not let the hostile atmosphere affect him.
“I was certainly happy to see Mardy and John played so well,” McEnroe said afterwards. “Mardy volleyed really well today, and John played well for his first match here.”
After losing the first two sets, the Colombians tried to claw themselves back into the match, holding two set points at 5-6, 15-40 on Fish’s serve, before the Americans were able to fight back and force the tie-breaker. Farah came alive in the tie-breaker and moved his team to a 6-2 lead, before barely hanging on as Fish missed a forehand return of serve at 6-5 to force a fourth set.
Fish and Isner proved too strong in the fourth set as they closed out the four-set victory.
Said Farah, a former standout at the University of Southern California, “I just went out and gave my best. Unfortunately, it was not good enough. They (Fish and Isner) played just too good today. I always knew that Mardy Fish is a great doubles player, but I was surprised just how hard John Isner served. I mean there was some balls that I could not even see. Except for losing, I really enjoyed the experience. The environment was just magical.”
McEnroe hinted at potentially changing his singles line-up tomorrow on the final day. Based on Querrey’s meak performance in his straight-set loss to Giraldo on Friday, one might speculate that he might be substituted for with Isner if the fifth and final match is live. If Fish clinches victory for the United States in the fourth rubber Sunday, one might speculate that McEnroe would give 18-year-old Davis Cup rookie Ryan Harrison a shot at playing in the dead-rubber match, a move he also conducted in his first tie as captain in 2001 against Switzerland with another teenage U.S. Davis Cup rookie named Andy Roddick.
In the Davis Cup semifinals, France booked a spot in the final as Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement sealed France’s 3-0 win over Argentina in Lyon. In Belgrade, the Czech Republic took the important 2-1 lead as Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic in four sets. For full score and results, go to www.DavisCup.com