Split in Gothenburg
After one day of singles, the US and Sweden are tied at one match a piece. The Andy Roddick/Joachim Johansson match went about as expected, with about two points that went longer than four shots. The two players have big enough serves as it is, and certainly don’t need a carpet surface to enhance their serving abilities. However that is what Swedish Captain Mats Wilander thought would be best, and to be honest it worked for him on the first day. I don’t really think anyone expected Joachim to beat Roddick, but he gave himself a chance by forcing tiebreakers in the first two sets, before finally getting broken once in the third. Final score was 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in Roddick’s favor. Roddick also had 30 aces (to Johansson’s 23), or put in other terms, 27 more aces than I have served up in the last decade.
The fast surface did seem to take a toll on Blake, who was upset by Thomas Johansson in four sets, to even the tie at 1-1. Many people though the carpet would help Blake, as his huge forehands would be even tough to track down. That was the case, but only when Blake found his rhythym, which unfortunately was only during a fraction of the match. During the rest, Johansson kept Blake off his balance with big serves (unexpected) and even bigger returns. So, even though Blake was clearly not playing his best, kudos to Thomas for stepping it up at a time when Sweden really needed him to.
In a few hours the Bryan brothers will take on Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin. Although the two don’t really compete together, this should prove to be a tough matchup for the Americans. Bjorkman has been one of the games best doubles players over the last decade, and Aspelin just took home the US Open Doubles title with Julian Knowle. The Bryans still have to be considered favorites, but with the hometown crowd behind them, I for one will not be completely surprised if I am writing tomorrow morning with the American’s down 2-1.
Lastly, the Germans and Russians are tied at one apiece going into the doubles as well. Haas was destroyed by Andreev, but then Philip Kohlschreiber picked up the slack with a 4:23 minute win over Davydenko, 7-5 in the fifth.
Until tomorrow, Howard out!