Well, no one is perfect - I didn’t quite get all my picks this time.  Below are the recaps from the weekend:

Russia vs. Czech Republic (Moscow, Indoor Clay) – I picked Russia to go down to the Czech Republic 3-2.  Instead, Safin set the tone with a 4 hour, come from behind win in the opening rubber against Berdych to vault the Russians to a 3-2 victory.  One thing of note here, I am a bit surprised the Czech’s put out Stepanek with Vizner for doubles instead of Dlouhy (Dlouhy and Vizner finished 5th in the world last year), and they ended up losing the crucial doubles rubber.

Argentina vs. Sweden (Buenos Aires, Outdoor Clay) – I picked Argentina to win 4-1, and they went ahead and proved me right.  Soderling must have played out of his mind this weekend though, as he destroyed Acasuso on Friday (my quote from the preview gave him only a “small chance”), and he pushed Nalbandian to the brink in a 9-7 5th set loss.  Soderling is only 23, so if the Swedes can get another strong singles player with him they have a good shot to vault back into the upper echelon of Davis Cup teams in the near future.

Germany vs. Spain (Bremen, Indoor Hard) – I picked against the grain here and thought Germany might challenge Spain on Hard courts at home, I was wrong.  This match was actually clinched for the Spaniards on Saturday, and the Germans avoided a sweep when Kiefer won, for all intensive purposes, a meaningless fifth rubber over Feliciano Lopez.

USA vs. France (Winston-Salem, Indoor Hard) – I was spot on in this Tie as well.  Through the strong singles play of both Roddick and Blake, the USA advanced with a 4-1 win over France.  However, this tie was a bit closer than it appeared.  Blake had to save two match points (while returning) in his marathon five-set victory over Mathieu on Friday to give the USA a 2-0 lead.  What if Blake had lost that match?  Instead of being up 2-1 on Sunday, the USA would have been down 2-1 and faced a TON more pressure…Well, it doesn’t really matter.

Semifinal matches are as follows (September 19-21): USA visiting Spain & Russian visiting Argentina.

Links:

WTA Clay Court preview, courtesy of Sandra Hewitt at ESPN.

ESPN’s Bonnie Ford recaps the USA/France tie.

A YOUNG American makes his mark.

Federer is trying out a new coach this week.  He won his first match, but not easily.

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