Mirnyi Keeps Belarus Alive

Max Mirnyi crushed Igor Andreev 6-3 6-4 6-4 in the first of the reverse singles on Sunday to bring World Group newcomers Belarus level at 2-2 with Russia in their Davis Cup first round tie. Going into the tie the odds were stacked heavily against Mirnyi having lost to Andreev in their last meeting at the Kremlin Cup last year. But the towering Belarusian never wavered breaking the Russian debutant Andreev once in each set to keep Belarus' Davis Cup Quarterfinal hopes alive.

Going into the match Mirnyi had already spent over 6 hours on the indoor carpet court in Minsk. It began with a marathon win over Marat Safin in the first rubber before he teamed with Alexander Shvec yesterday and went down to Safin and Mikhail Youzhny in the doubles. But the Belarusian No.1 played with restored energy in his third rubber today and finished the match in 1 hour 43 minutes.

Mirnyi dominated the match from the beginning adjusting well to the serve of Andreev and successfully controlling at the net making it difficult for Andreev to pass him. The break came for Mirnyi in the sixth game and he finished the set at 6-3.

The second set continued with a similar script. Andreev was unable to capitalise on his second serve only winning 36 per cent of the points. This, combined with Mirnyi's net play once again won Mirnyi the break in the fourth game. Things went from bad to worse for Andreev in the third set. His first serve started to let him down with his points won on first serve dropping from 83 per cent in the first two sets to 58 percent.

“If I made my serves better I would have had much more chances of success. Unfortunately I was not able to and as a consequence lost the rubber in three sets." said a dissapointed Andreev.

Commenting on his overall performance Andreev said, "I have won one point for my team. It is not a super result but also not a failure."

All eyes will now be on Michael Youzhny, a late replacement for Australian Open finalist Marat Safin, as he attempts to book Russia's place in the Davis Cup quarterfinals against Argentina with a victory in the second reverse singles against Vladimir Voltchkov.

Source: www.daviscup.org