Betfair Official Blog

Davis Cup quarter-finals - PREVIEW

Andy Murray's older brother, Jamie, this afternoon has the chance to make the perfect Davis Cup debut for Great Britain when he faces the Netherlands in Birmingham's NEC.

He and veteran Greg Rusedski team up to face the Dutch pair of Igor Sijsling and Roger Wassen with Great Britain already 2-0 up in their Euro/Africa Zone match and a September promotion play-off awaiting the winners.

Apart from a win, the only way 21-year-old Jamie could top things is if he were partnering Andy but with the world No 11 carrying a groin injury, captain John Lloyd is wise to use all the weapons in his armoury.

Betfair have Britain trading as the outright 1.01 favourites to finish the job this afternoon and make tomorrow's reverse singles a formality.

Nineteen-year-old Andy Murray gave Britain a winning start by beating Raeomon Sluiter 6-3 7-5 6-2 despite still being hampered by the groin injury he picked up in the Masters semi-final in Indian Wells more than a fortnight ago.

Tim Henman, back playing Davis Cup for the first time since 2004, put Lloyd's team in charge when he toppled 20-year old Robin Haase 7-6 6-3 7-6 after being 3-1 down in the third set.

Henman gave his fans a fright as early as the opening game when he led 40-0 only to produce four doubles faults and drop his serve. But he got his act together to help Britain to a commanding first-day lead.

The 32-year-old British No 2 said: "It's fantastic to be back in this type of atmosphere. It's what Davis Cup is all about. Last year I began to miss it and to be back winning is even better. I feel in good shape."

In other matches in the Euro/Africa zone, Serbia lead Georgia 2-0 while Israel are 2-0 up on Italy and Slovakia are 2-0 up on Macedonia.
IN THE WORLD GROUP only one of the quarter-finals is guaranteed to remain alive until tomorrow's final day.

Holders Russia stand 1-1 with France in Moscow after Mikhail Youzhny overcame Richard Gasquet 8-6 in the final set to square the tie. The match lasted an amazing 4 hours and 48 minutes and Youzhny finally won more than two hours after he had his first match point in a 6-2 6-3 6-7 5-7 8-6 marathon.

Paul-Henri Mathieu had put the French ahead when he overcame Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 after a first set when the Frenchman could do little right.

Today, Igor Andreev and Marat Safin face Sebastien Grosjean and Michael Llodra in the doubles and Betfair are only offering 1.62 on Russia winning the tie by the end of tomorrow's reverse singles.

The winners look likely to face Germany as Belgium have never beaten them in seven previous meetings and the outcome looks to be heading for the same old story in Ostend.

Tommy Haas came from a set down to beat Kristof Vliegen 6-7 7-5 6-4 6-2 and Philip Kohlschreiber, making his cup debut, overcame Olivier Rochus 6-3 7-5 7-6.

Veteran 6ft 8in Dick Norman and Christophe Rochus have to stop Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske today to keep Belgium in it.

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it was the United States who took charge, going 2-0 up on day one for the first time in a match since 2004 as they gained control against Spain.

James Blake was too strong for Tommy Robredo, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and then Spain, without injured Rafael Nadal, went 2-0 down as Andy Roddick disposed of Fernando Verdasco 7-6 6-1 6-4.
Roddick was in the team which lost to Spain in front of a 27,000 crowd in the final in Seville in 2004 and so revenge drove him on in front of a sellout 14,000 crowd at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, should wrap it up today when they face Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez and Betfair have them trading at 1.01 to win 3-0 and book a semi-final clash with Sweden or last year's runners-up Argentina.

At the moment it looks like being the Swedes as they caused the surprise of day one by racing into a 2-0 lead.
Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson beat David Nalbandian 6-7 7-6 6-2 7-6 - winning the final tiebreak without dropping a point - to put the Swedes in the driving seat.

And they were positively motoring after Robin Soderling swamped Juan-Martin Del Potro 7-6 7-6 6-4.
Betfair now have Sweden trading at 1.14 to win the tie as Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt prepare to face Nalbandian and Sebastian Prieto in front of Gothenburg's tennis-mad fans.