TENNIS – Davis Cup 2014. The Swiss team produced a remarkable comeback rallying from a 1-2 deficit to take a hard-fought win over Kazakhstan with 3-2 in front of 16000 enthusiastic fans who packed the Expo arena in Geneva. Diego Samapaolo
Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka fought back from a set down to overcome Michail Kukushkin with 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 6-4 to keep Swiss hopes alive. Wawrinka took a re-match against Kukushkin who beat the Swiss in five sets in the 2010 Davis Cup Play-off when Kazakhstan beat Switzerland 5-0.
In the first set Wawrinka created the first two break points of the match but he could not convert them. The first set came down to the tie-break where Kukushkin closed out the first set on his third set point when Wawrinka hit a forehand long.
Wawrinka was under pressure but he managed to break to love in the fifth game of the second set with a huge forehand to seal the second set with 6-4. He went on to win the third set with the same score before taking a crucial break in the ninth game of the third set on his fourth break point to take a 5-4 lead. He wrapped up the fourth set on his first match point
Then it was the turn of Roger Federer to seal the decisive win with a three-set win over Andrei Golubev with 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-3 to set up the semifinal match against Italy which will be played in Switzerland from 12th to 14th September. Switzerland will play the first Davis Cup semifinal in 11 years. The last time the Red-Crossed team reached this stage dates back to 2003 when they lost against Australia.
It was the first time that Federer played a decisive fifth rubber match in the Davis Cup.
Federer broke serve in the third game of the first set to take a 2-1 lead but Golubev broke back in the sixth game. The first set came down to the tie-break where Golubev made a double fault on the first point. Federer dominated the breaker with a clear 7-0-
Federer saved a break point in the sixth game before taking the break in the following game to close out the second set with 6-2. The Swiss legend broke serve for 3-1 but Golubev broke straight back after Federer made a couple of errors. Golubev made two double faults to drop serve in the sixth game. Federer did not look back and cruised to 5-2 before holding serve to love to seal the third set with 6-3 to the delight of Swiss fans.
