Mar Del Plata: Spain pulled level with Argentina in the Davis Cup final on Friday when Feliciano Lopez stunned an ailing Juan Martin del Potro in four sets.
Lopez, 31st in the world rankings, won 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 in three hours 19 minutes to wipe out David Nalbandian’s straight sets win over David Ferrer in the opening rubber.
Del Potro, already troubled by a toe injury, appeared to pull a muscle in his right leg in the sixth game of the fourth set and needed about 10 minutes of treatment.
“Tennis matches are like that,” said Lopez, who was chosen by captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario ahead of the Fernando Verdasco.
“I was a bit nervous at the start, I got over it in the second set and began to believe in myself more. It was a victory over myself.”
“To beat a top ten player this way, in a Davis Cup final away from home, is the happiest moment in my career.”
“There were moments in the second and third sets where I felt I could not have played any better.”
Del Potro said it was too early to say whether his injury would keep him out of Sunday’s reverse singles.
“He played really well, above himself,” said this opponent. I’m a bit surprised by the standard he played.
“He didn’t commit double faults, his second serve was almost as good as his first and I couldn’t find a way past him.”
Del Potro, ranked ninth, swept through the first set in 38 minutes and appeared set to carry on where Nalbandian had left off.
Lopez had other ideas and hit back to win the next two sets in tie-breaks after all games went with serve.
He reeled off the first tiebreak 7-2 and, in the second, came back from 4-2 behind to win four points in a row and clinch the breaker 7-4 with an ace.
With the crowd at the Polideportivo Malvinas arena increasingly quiet, Lopez continued his dominance by breaking in the fourth game of the fourth set, helped by two Del Potro double faults, to take control.
Already looking fatigued after a long season that has seen him leap from obscurity into the top 10, Del Potro managed to break back immediately but then suffered his injury in the next game.
(REUTERS)
