[Brian Swartz]

World Team Cup Finals
Spain vs. Sri Lanka, Clay

This got off to a great start for us despite my thinking it was a tossup matchup. Mooljee crushed Juan de los Santos, which wasn't a real big surprise, but when resurgent Martin Zarco, one of the top clay players in the world, was dismissed 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 by Dudwadkar I was frankly rather astonished. Up 2-0, it looked to be in the bag.

Cordovez/Algarin snatched one back for them in a strong doubles showing, beating us 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Not very close at all. Then Prakash Mooljee took Zarco the distance, but for the second straight day we missed our chance to put them away. Martin takes it 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4. An up-and-down match with just one point overall separating the players, but I must admit it was the correct result.

So it came down to Friday, with Santos having a chance, albeit a long-shot one, to give them a comeback championship. Ritwik Dudwadkar had to work a bit more than expected in the final rubber, but lost his serve just once in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 victory. We beat the Spaniards on their best surface 3-2, the 7th straight year that the WTC Final has been decided by a single point.

8 World Championships in 10 years. Before this, it had never been done before. Another feather in our cap.


WTC Playoffs

** Bulgaria vs. Switzerland -- Both went winless in group play at Level 1 this year, though the Swiss have been there a lot longer. Or perhaps had. Both sides have only one Top 100 player. Switzerland's Phillippe Besson(35th) has a manager who has gone MIA, and with him running on fumes it was an easy 5-0 cruise. The Bulgarians lost just two sets, and they will stay up.

** Canada vs. Denmark -- The big surprise here is that it took this long with Luc Janin on the Canadian side. The last three years prior to this one, they were knocked out in a close ties in the Level 2 QFs. This time they won that level, and get a 4-1 win here. The Danes were going for back-to-back promotions, but their top player(Simen Gram, 55th), is 30 years old and not in Janin's stratosphere. Only singles guy in the Top 200 for them, so it's hard to see them getting to the top level.

** Chile vs. Slovak Republic -- Chile was promoted last year to the top flight, while the Slovaks were looking to bounce back up here after being demoted from it. Interesting matchup in that way, but Piazzola(15th) and Cortecedo(40th) gave the Chileans two players better than anyone their opponents could muster. They did well to keep it to 3-2. Chile stays.

** Norway vs. Sweden -- Exact same script here, and another close tie. Norway came up last year, with Sweden being demoted. In this Scandinavian tussle, Valentin Rosenberg(14th) was the clear dominant force. They found the one additional win they needed. Sweden gets the 3-2 win and moves up, Norway goes back down. Olaf Bergman(64th) is by far the Norwegians' best and it looks like he's been abandoned as well. If so, this is the last we'll see of them.