By Sean Rudolph
© Davis Cup Twitpic
(December 4, 2010) Caught in a Serbian storm of sound and fury squeezing them in into a two-set deficit like a pair of pressure pliers, Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement came together to stun the Serbs into a silent stagger. Playing with poise and purpose, Llodra and Clement delivered a dramatic 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, comeback conquest of Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic that puts France one win away from clinching its 10th Davis Cup championship in Belgrade.
"We knew before the match it was gonna be a tough one," Llodra said. "We try to play our best and stay focused on our game and with the crowd we stayed positive and play the best tennis."
It was a crucial comeback for France, which now holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five match final and has history on its side. The last five Davis Cup champions have all won the doubles match of the final.
World No. 3 Novak Djokovic will try to keep the host's hopes alive when he faces French No. 1 Gael Monfils in Sunday's opening reverse singles match. The 23-year-old Djokovic delivered a 7-6(2), 6-1, 6-2 thorough thrashing of Monfils in the US Open quarterfinals in September to raise his record to 5-0 against the flashy Frenchman in a rivalry that dates back to their junior days.
Should Djokovic win, Serbia will almost certainly start Janko Tipsarevic in the fifth-and-decisive singles match putting French captain Guy Forget on the spot.
If Djokovic forces a decisive fifth match, will Forget stick with Gilles Simon, who lost to Djokovic on Friday, or insert the lefthander Llodra whom he hinted would play singles during the draw ceremony on Thursday? World No. 42 Simon scored a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win over Tipsarevic on an indoor hard court in the 2008 Rotterdam round of 16 in what was their only meeting.
If Forget selects Llodra, how will the 30-year-old serve-and-volleyer bounce back from today's five-setter if he starts as expected? Can the 49th-ranked Tipsarevic, who was clearly rattled in his straight-sets opening loss to Monfils on Friday, rescue Serbia for a second straight tie? Tipsarevic and Llodra have played once previously with tennis' tatoo king beating Llodra on clay three years ago.
Serbian fans were chanting and pounding thunder sticks together after Troicki and Zimonjic won the tie breaker to take a two-set lead, but Forget urged his players to find a way to fight back even when faced with the fact their best tennis was eluding them.
"I’m so proud of them. If they were able to win that match, they can win any match in Davis Cup," Forget said. "Michael was not serving as well as he usually does and he was getting frustrated and Arnaud was struggling to hold serve and at two sets to love I said 'You guys can win that third set set and then win the fourth set. Forget about the crowd, forget about the score. Just play each point and you can win.' "
Serbia is aiming to pull of its second straight comeback from a 1-2 deficit and if Djokovic wins, Tipsarevic will have a shot at clinching a second consecutive tie in what would be the most meaningful match of his career.
In September, Tipsarevic swept Radek Stepanek, 6-0, 7-6(6), 6-4 to clinch Serbia's 3-2 comeback win over the Czech Republic, sending Serbia into its first Davis Cup final in history.
It was Clement's penetrating returns from the deuce side that helped spark France's comeback. The French broke early in the fifth set and held a 4-3 lead as Clement, by far the least imposing server on the court, saw the Serbians severely punish his second serve with returns that forced him to scrape volleys off his shoelaces.
Serbia earned double break point. France saved the first on an acute-angle backhand volley from Llodra. On the the second break point, Clement looked like he might get caught in no-man’s landed but blocked a backhand back into play. Troicki put his forehand into the top of the tape and it was deuce.
Clement hung tough back pedaling for an overhead, scooping out a forehand volley and then celebrating when Zimonjic lined up his favored backhand but put the shot into the net giving France game point.
Serbia saved it on a Zimonjic flicked backhand volley. Clement slid a slice serve wide that surprised Zimonjic for a second game point. Llodra somehow reflexed back a volley from Zimonjic and a tight Troicki put the next shot into the net as France held for 5-3.
Serving for the match, Llodra lashed a slider down the middle and moved into a backhand volley winner. Llodra ammed Troicki, who netted a backhand return. Clement punched a forehand volley away to give France triple match point.
Two points later, Llodra lashed a flurry of forehand volley to close it.