Davidovich falls to Lehecka and Spain will have to beat Serbia to qualify

With the defeat of Alejandro Davidovich against Jiri Lehecka, the victory of the Czech Republic was consummated in the first series of the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals taking place in Valencia. The setback could be extremely serious for the team led by David Ferrer.. Almost any option to be in Malaga next November, in the fight for the title, involves beating Serbia this Friday led by Novak Djokovic. The Czech number 1 beat his Spanish namesake 7-6 (5) and 7-5 in one hour and 53 minutes, after Tomas Machac had beaten Bernabé Zapata by a double 6-4, in one hour and 32 minutes.

Just because it falls within the calculations, given the succession of casualties, does not make failure any less discouraging.. With South Korea as the Cinderella of the group and without significant alternatives in the team that Ferrer can present against Serbia, Spain's destiny seems to have been written, seen and unseen on its first day of competition.

At the beginning of the year, when Ferrer took over from Sergi Bruguera as captain of the Spanish team, he surely did not expect to find himself in a situation like the one he must face this week. Second seed in the ranking, Spain is, without Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz, nor Pablo Carreño, injured, nor Roberto Bautista, who is on the team but has not competed for almost two months due to an accident in which he broke the fibula while riding a horse, a vulnerable piece of equipment.

premiere day

On a day for debuts, that of Ferrer, a member of the triumphant Spain in his time as a player, now in the task of coach; Zapata's, 75º, with the stimulus or condition of playing in his city of birth; and that of Davidovich, who served as number 1 with the baggage of a single match, in doubles, with a defeat last year against Romania, Spain was caught by a wire.

Davidovich's debut in the Davis Cup was by no means a simple one.. He did it as number 1, after Zapata had lost the first point, against a player who had defeated him a few weeks ago on the Queen's grass in their only previous confrontation and knowing that in this match Spain was not only at stake for survival. in the qualifying round but, to a large extent, the chances of qualifying for the final phase.

The Malaga native, 25th, recent semi-finalist in the Canadian Masters 1000, bravely emerged from a delicate trance: 5-6 down and 0-30 in the first set. The tiebreaker was different, where he sent four backhands to the net and let Lehecka take advantage. Even though he is a tennis player yet to be made, the Czech, 30th, finalist in Winston Salem and quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, has an imposing build and a game that is not even suitable for this type of surface.

The same history

The second part followed a similar course. Davidovich was condemned in a horrible game, one of which, unfortunately, is not usually missing in any of his matches, and lost serve in the eleventh, to leave the field open for his opponent, who made the most of his first match point.

All enthusiasm, Zapata, who has only won one of the seven matches played indoors, paid with the set for the loss of his serve in the opening game. The La Fonteta pavilion warmed up as the afternoon progressed, after a dull start, with very few people in the stands and an atmosphere inappropriate for a Davis Cup tie with the hosts in contention.

Zapata, 26 years old, is a tennis player with slow progress, who this season can boast of the semifinals of the ATP 500 in Rio and the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires. Defending your country in a sport of individual essence usually weighs. And it weighed on a player who until a few days ago, when Alcaraz was still an option, had not even considered undertaking such a responsibility.

Without doing much, more confident and relaxed, successful with the open serve and without making so many mistakes, Machac, 119th, broke again in the seventh game of the second set. A break in each set was enough for him to win, leaving Spain on the ropes, from which Davidovich could not get it out. Jakub Mensik and Adam Pavlasek saved two match points and beat Davidovich and Marcel Granollers 5-7, 7-6 (6) and 6-4.