Despite Inspired Effort, Americans Down 2-0 to Spain

By Chris Oddo

(September, 14, 2012) -- Facing the indomitable Spaniards on their home soil is an unenviable task, but it was one that the road warrior American team was relishing heading into this weekend's World Group semifinal tie in Gijon, Spain.

After two grueling matches, the fight hasn't left the Americans, but the hopes of winning have been severely diminished.

Spain, playing without Rafael Nadal, got blue-collar efforts from David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro to put the Americans in a 2-0 hole heading into Saturday's doubles rubber.

The Americans, looking to play their own unique brand of first-strike clay-court tennis, committed a whopping 165 errors between them, and while their aggressiveness gave them opportunities, in the end the resiliency and consistency of the Spaniards won out against Sam Querrey and John Isner.

Querrey got of to a surprisingly strong start against David Ferrer on Friday, but the World No. 5 slowly took hold of the match after losing the first set to give Spain a 1-0 lead with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory that lasted three hours and three minutes.

Ferrer, 30, improved his Davis Cup record on clay to 15-0 with the win.

"Of course I have a little bit of jet lag," said Ferrer, who was a U.S. Open semifinalist last weekend, losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets. "It's not easy to change surface, hard-court to clay-court, but I had two, three days for practice here, and my performance was good."

Querrey surprised Ferrer by winning the first set and had his chances throughout, but only could manage two breaks of serve in fourteen opportunities on the day. The American drops to 1-5 in Davis Cup play with the loss.

Querrey had nine break points in the fourth set, but couldn't break through against the stingy Ferrer.

"He had a lot of chances, but I tried my best every point. I played very focused every break point down, and finally in the last set I broke him in the last game."

Despite pushing Nicolas Almagro to a fifth set, and hanging in at 5-5 late in the set, John Isner suffered the same fate as Querrey, losing to Almagro 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Things were similarly frustrating for Isner.

Isner broke Almagro in his last service game in the second and fourth sets, and the American had a look at two break points in the fifth game of the final set that would have given him the late lead, but he was unable to convert.

Some clutch serving enabled Isner to save three match points in the tenth game, but Almagro put the pressure back on Isner with the American serving at 5-6.

Obviously fatigued, Isner missed two easy volleys to hand Almagro his fourth match point, then missed a forehand long to end the battle.

"Those were pretty bad errors, simple shots, especially the volleys I missed," said Isner, who had won four consecutive Davis Cup matches on clay coming into the day. "I think I missed three volleys in that last game and I should have made all of them."

Isner faced 19 break points on the afternoon, saving all but three.

"It was very tough," said Almagro. "I didn't feel very comfortable on the court when he was serving."

When it was over, a dejected Isner took a seat on the U.S. bench next to Jim Courier, unable to mask the disappointment of having come so close to what would have been a huge victory for the Americans, but falling a smidgen short in the end.

Spain has a 37-0 record when leading 2-0 in Davis Cup ties, but the Americans will take comfort in knowing that their big horses can rest while the World's No. 1 doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan can keep them alive with a point on Saturday. The Bryans are 19-2 as a team in Davis Cup play, and they've never lost on the road or when playing with the Americans trailing 2-0.

The Spaniards have won 23 straight ties on clay dating back to 1999, and 25 straight at home.

(Photo Credit: Alvaro Barrientos/ AP)