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France has annihilated Spain in their Davis Cup quarterfinal tie 5-0. It is the first time in over 50 years that Spain has been handed such a savage beating. After losing the doubles, and with it the tie, the Spaniards remained unable to produce any wins with Nicolas Almagro falling 6-7, 6-7 to Gilles Simon while Feli Lopez fell 6-7, 4-6 to Julien Benneteau.
It was a terrible result in an otherwise brilliant week for Spain. Last Sunday Rafa Nadal won Wimbledon, the Davis Cup players then celebrated Spain’s World Cup semi final win before the tie started, and just last night Spain walked away with the World Cup trophy.
France will now face Argentina in the semi’s after David Nalbandian proved to be the hero of the South American team. France have won their last four meetings with Argentina in Davis Cup.
Nalbandian was the saviour of Argentina in the last round of Davis Cup, returning unexpectedly from injury to help guide them to victory. Again David has returned from injury to help after withdrawing from Wimbledon to allow himself more healing time to ensure he was healthy for Davis Cup. “I played great, much better than Friday. I said I had to keep improving my game, and that is what I did today. We won so I’m so happy to be in the semifinals again.”
Nikolay Davydenko, also returning from injury, had struggled in the tie but managed to level the meet at two all, prior to Nalbandian’s decisive win. Davydenko had been unsure if he would play until his wife stepped in. “I said to my wife, I don’t know how I feel, maybe it would be better if I retire today. She told me, you started playing on Friday and you need to continue through till Sunday and win.”
