By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, November 24, 2017
A sharp David Goffin dissected Lucas Pouille, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, staking Belgium to a 1-0 lead over host France in the Davis Cup final.
Photo credit: Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Facebook
A red streak across the blue court, David Goffin swooped forward for a slick swinging forehand volley that handcuffed Lucas Pouille.
The Belgian No. 1 brought a masterful all-court attack opening the Davis Cup final with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 conquest staking the visitor to a 1-0 lead over host France.
Watch: France Drops Mahut in Favor of Gasquet
The lightest man in the ATP’s Top 20 carried immense pressure onto the court. Goffin knows he must win every match if Belgium is to capture its first Davis Cup in history.
The 5’11” Goffin stood up to the pressure—and 27,000 screaming fans at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, France. Goffin raised his Davis Cup singles record to 20-3, including an 11-1 mark on hard courts.
“The pressure was on me, on my shoulders, but I was ready to fight,” Goffin told Davis Cup TV afterward. “I came here with a lot of confidence so I used it to continue with a good match here.
“I said before the match the key was just to play good tennis, just to try to be focused on every point on what I have to do. If I can make it and can be relaxed and play my game I knew it would be tough on my opponent. As we played, set after set, it started to be much better for me. I was hitting much deeper.”
French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will try to level the best-of-five set final facing veteran Steve Darcis in today’s second singles rubber.
There was no lingering London hangover afflicting Goffin on the Lille hard court.
A week ago, Goffin played dynamic tennis on the hard court of the O2 Arena becoming just the sixth man to defeat world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and second-ranked Roger Federer in the same tournament.
Five days after Goffin fell to Grigor Dimitrov in a dramatic three-set final of the Nitto ATP Finals, he faced an opponent who had won all three of their prior meetings—and the challenge of avoiding an emotional lapse after London.
Showing no signs of fatigue, Goffin was back at it bringing before Belgium's red army of crimson-clad fans.
Twice in a row, Goffin reached love-30 in Pouille's service games, but could not break.
Deadlocked at 30-all in the 10th game, Goffin slashed successive aces holding to level.
Facing break point in the 11th game, Pouille made the mistake of challenging the Belgian's backhand. Goffin ripped a backhand return rattling out an error to earn the first break of the match.
A stealth backhand drop volley gave Goffin triple set point. Sliding a serve down the T, he took the first set, 7-5, after 48 minutes.
Stradding the baseline, Goffin took the ball on the rise and kept it moving side-to-side, sometimes streaking forward to finish at net. A rattled Pouille slapped a double fault off the tape to gift the break in the first game of the second set.
Goffin streamed through a love hold for 5-3 in the second set.
A diagonal backhand return winner gave Goffin set point on Pouille’s serve.
Spitting back another deep return, Goffin broke to snatch a two-set lead with a confident fist toward Belgian captain Johan Van Herck. Goffin picked Pouille’s second serve apart, winning 10 of 16 points played on the Frenchman’s second delivery and converting two of seven break points in the set.
“I didn’t panic,” Goffin said. “I had opportunities, maybe on second serve, to break him. He was playing really well at the beginning of the match. As soon as I broke him in the first set I felt something better in my body. I felt a little more relaxed.”
A desperate drop shot against a guy who was gliding like a ghost showed Pouille was out of ideas and fast running out of time.
Goffin got up to the ball quickly, choked up a bit on his Wilson blade then pushed a forehand down the line before tapping an angled backhand volley winner breaking for a 2-0 third-set lead.
The Goffin two-hander is one of the most incisive ground strokes in the men’s game because he can shorten the backswing and create angle from the middle of the court. Zapping a diagonal backhand winner, Goffin broke for the fifth time for 5-1.
A clean crosscourt backhand strike brought the Belgian No. 1 to triple match point.
Cranking an inside-out forehand winner to end it, the usually understated Goffin showed just how much this match meant to him erupting in a flurry of fist pumps before embracing each member of the Belgian team.
For the second time in the last three years, Goffin has staked Belgium to a 1-0 lead in the final.
Two years ago, it was a much more arduous task.
Leading off the 2015 final against Great Britain, Goffin subdued a weary Kyle Edmund, 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, to complete his first career comeback from two sets down and stake Belgium to a 1-0 lead over Great Britain in the Davis Cup final on the red clay of Ghent.
The efficiency of today’s victory should help Goffin, who may well be pressed into action in tomorrow’s doubles match.
Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore are the scheduled starters against France’s Richard Gasquet and Pierre Hugues Herbert, but look for Belgian captain Van Herck to make substitutions as Goffin wasted little energy tearing through the opener.
“Hopefully, Steve will maintain this Belgian atmosphere—there is a lot of Belgian fans,” Goffin said gazing at the crowd. “When you win in three sets its always good atmosphere for the team that is winning.”