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By Chris Oddo | Saturday March 5, 2016

Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic suffered a surprise loss to Alexsandr Nedovyesov and Andrey Golubev in Belgrade on Saturday, but the Serbian team is still in good spirits despite a seemingly desperate situation.

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“Going into third day with a deficit but it’s not the first time,” said Djokovic, after his team fell 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5 on Saturday at Pionir Hall in Belgrade. “We’ve been in this situation before. We know what it takes to win and hopefully two singles will go our way tomorrow.”

Djokovic and Zimonjic were outplayed by a crafty pair of players who have a knack for the big upset. Nedovyesov and Golubev shook the tennis world two years ago when they defeated Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in four sets in Geneva to give their team a 2-1 lead over the Swiss. But Federer and Wawrinka responded with victories to avoid the upset on the next day.

Djokovic and the Serbs hope they’ll experience the same fate on Sunday in Belgrade. The world No. 1 will hope to get the ball rolling against Mikhail Kukushkin in the first reverse singles clash, and if he’s successful, Viktor Troicki will get a shot at redemption against Nedovyesov (or Golubev) in a deciding rubber.

It’s the same one-two punch that the Serbs used to win the 2010 Davis Cup title when they battled back from 2-1 down to defeat France in Belgrade to earn the nation its first Davis Cup crown.

Kazakhstan knows that they’ll need some more magic to finish the improbable victory on the road. Despite establishing a reputation as a very difficult team to face, they’ve failed to protect leads on the road on Sunday against Switzerland and Australia in the last two seasons.

“We’ve been in the same situation before. We were up against Switzerland 2-1, we were up against Australia 2-1. We know it’s not finished yet until we win the third point,” said Nedovyesov on Saturday.


 

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