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France has produced a remarkable upset by defeating the two-time defending champions Spain in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup overnight. On hard courts, in front of French home crowds, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco were no match for Julien Benneteau and Michael Llordra in the doubles rubber. The Spaniards were lucky to avoid a straight sets defeat having lost their opening service game in the third set and then managing to push towards a tie break which they narrowly managed to secure. The French team were superior and ultimately took the match 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6.
After holidaying together in Ibiza, Feli and Fernando lacked intensity throughout the match, and consistency on serve. The French resistance was so strong that the Spaniards were repeatedly broken and struggled to get into any of their returning games. While the Spaniards were lacking fire, the French players were clearly inspired by their lead and with the home crowd advantage.
Verdasco, who had struggled on serve all match, double faulted in the fourth set tie break to give the French a 4-2 lead from which the could not recover even with some huge serving from Feliciano.
The Spaniards may have saved a match point in the third set tie break, but they were unable to stop the French recording the historic win. The French crowd went wild as the players fell to the ground in celebration of their victory.
“Even if I am 30 years, I like this kind of match. Amazing. We play tennis for that. Today it was too good on the court. When I started playing tennis, my dream was to play in the French team. When I was 11 years old, I saw Guy Forget and Henri Leconte in Davis Cup in Lyon when they won against the USA and, in my head, you know I said one time in my life I want to be like this and today it was amazing. We beat Spain, the defending champions. It’s unbelievable.” – Michael Llordra
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