By Chris Oddo | Friday, April 4, 2014
After Stan Wawrinka was shocked by Andrey Golubev in Geneva, Roger Federer righted the Swiss ship with a straight-sets victory over Mikhail Kukushkin.
Photo Source: AP
It was an inauspicious start for the Swiss Davis Cup team in Geneva, but Roger Federer came to the rescue to put the Swiss on level terms with upset-minded Kazakhstan at the conclusion of day 1 of their World Group quarterfinal tie.
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Playing as Switzerland's No. 1, Stan Wawrinka couldn't withstand the aggressive game of Andrey Golubev in the day's first rubber. Golubev got the better of the play, and after he failed to convert on his first five match points, he finished off Wawrinka, 7-6(5), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).
“I'm really disappointed with myself,” Wawrinka said, “but you have to give credit to Golubev. He was playing really good. He was really aggressive. He did find a way to win the match.”
Wawrinka became frustrated when things weren't going his way in the second set, and he had a heated argument with umpire Carlos Bernardes and even smashed a racquet in half on the court.
He would rally to take the third set, but Golubev kept up the pressure and finally put the world No. 3 away in the fourth-set tiebreaker, sealing it with a smash after Wawrinka had rallied from 6-2 to 6-5.
“I was not aggressive enough with my game,” Wawrinka said, “but I need to accept and I need to be ready for tomorrow and for a long weekend.”
Roger Federer quickly righted the Swiss ship in the second rubber by taking out Kazakh No. 1 Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Federer saved the only break point he faced in rolling to the victory in one hour and 52 minutes to improve his Davis Cup singles record to 34-7 with the victory.
“I think it's good for me not to waste any energy because I do see myself playing all three days,” Federer said. “Now we just have to start it all over again. That's what I told Stan. The weekend has only just started. There's no drama.”
Tomorrow's pivotal doubles rubber will feature the Olympic gold medal-winning tandem of Federer and Wawrinka against Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Evgeny Korolev. However, team captains could substitute other players from the roster up to an hour before play begins.
Kazakhstan shut out the Swiss the last time the two nations met, in 2010. The Swiss are bidding to reach their first World Group semifinal in 11 years. Kazahstan has never reached the last four of Davis Cup.
Sunday's reverse singles will pit Wawrinka against Kukushkin before Federer takes on Golubev in what could be a deciding fifth rubber.