IGOR ANDREEV...

*Bump*

Iggy is now leading 3-0 vs. gonzales, 3rd set ;D

Well done,Andreev.

After a promising start, the nightmare continues


Gonzalez entered the court with the responsibility of winning, after Safin defeated Massu and gave Russia the 1-0 lead.

The first set was won by Gonzalez, and the second set looked good for the powerful Chilean after breaking Andreev’s serve to lead 2-1. Almost 3-1 ahead, something happened to Gonzalez; Andreev broke back and then once again, and 4-2 ahead was enough to let the Russian win the second set 64.

The third set surprised the audience. Gonzalez was far from being the force that stormed the Australian Open draw and Andreev cruised from a 3-0 to a 63 leaving Russia only one set away of winning both first day singles.

The fourth set showed that clearly something was very wrong with Gonzalez today. Andreev broke three times to lead 5-0, and then a burst of wounded pride made the home team’s No. 1 use courage where tennis clearly wasn’t enough. Gonzalez broke once and survived six match points, but at the end it all served only to make the final score 62 for the Russian No. 2.

The audience started to retire from the court in disbelief, as most people believed Safin could defeat Massu, but everyone was confident that Gonzalez would surely beat Andreev.


Questions in the wind


Both Gonzalez and Andreev did not have an answer on the huge difference between the two versions of Fernando Gonzalez, the one that reached the final round and put a lot of pressure over Roger Federer in Australia, and the one that lost today to Andreev, who is returning from a long injury and is still only ranked 147 in the world.

“I didn’t play my best tennis today” explained a disheartened Gonzalez. ”I didn’t feel well in the court, all my shots were too short and Andreev put his forehand everywhere. Besides, my serve left me after my first set”.

Andreev, on the other hand, looked as fresh and cool as Safin had after his win. “I was a little nervous at the beginning, but when I started relaxing, he lowered his game and I could take advantage. At the end perhaps I relaxed a little too much, and that shows it was not an easy victory; a couple of games more, and he could have returned into the game”.

When asked about the difference in comparison to Gonzalez’ Australian Open performance, Andreev merely shrugged his shoulders. “It’s Davis Cup, it’s a whole different game, different court… I don’t know how he looked there; I just tried to play my best and defeat him”.



Gonzalez arrived from Australia two days after the final (and with a 14 hour time difference) to play in the Viña del Mar tournament. Although every tennis player wants to play at home, it is debatable if that was the right move. Although he only played three matches last week and one today, Gonzalez looked quite bad in the third and fourth sets, with low mobility and giving the impression that he is still mentally tired from his huge effort in the Australian Open, and that he should have had more resting time to disconnect himself from that performance. On the other hand, he did have a much more difficult transition to clay than he usually does, and the fact that he never felt comfortable on the court is a possible explanation of this, his first Davis Cup defeat ever while playing at home.

Andreev entered the court knowing that this was the least probable point the Russian team could take, and that helped him to make his stand. Now Russia leads 2-0 and the Chilean team must decisively raise their game or the tie will be over sooner than almost everybody thought.

When's the wedding PaT?

Well, it's not going to be 6-0, but i still want a wedding PaT!!!
And we're going to have a wedding, cause he will win!

OMG, all the other countries have already finished their matches.
Russia is the only one that rests....

Of course we'll have! ;D
It'll be kept in secret, so don't let Artur know that please ;D