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Old 04-08-2016, 08:44 PM   #307
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
World Team Cup Quarterfinals
France(5th) vs. Sri Lanka(7th), Hardcourt

Monday: G. Girsh d. T. Bourdet, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3
Tuesday: A. Mehul d. D. Poilblan, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
Wednesday: R. Iraugui/T. Rey d. S. Ujjaval/R. Kuttikad, 6-0, 6-2, 6-1
Thursday: A. Mehul d. T. Bourdet, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Friday: G. Girsh d. D. Poilblan, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0

Sri Lanka defeats France, 4-1!!

I was surprised by how one-sided the singles rubbers were; the French contestants are ranked 19th and 20th right now, and Bourdet just gone done with a semifinal run at the US Open. We move past Spain, and a single point ahead of France as well into 5th in the world rankings. Next up will be Peru after they edged favored Argentina 3-2. Gustavo Caratti was the goat in this case for the Argentinians, as he didn't come in prepared and it cost them.

On the other side, the Czech Republic blanked Austria 5-0, while Italy stunned the United States 3-2 thanks largely to a favorable clay surface. It was still a surprising result though, with Gaskell losing both of his rubbers. The Americans are clearly on their way down; all three of their elite players(Gaskell in 6th, Smitala in 7th, Mockler in 11th) are past their peaks to one degree or another. There is nobody nearly ready to replace them yet, though they have six players out of the 16 presently ranked 31st-46th, all of them still improving. They will still be a force, but in terms of contending for the WTC crown and maintaining their world's best ranking, that ship has sailed for a while I think.


Coming Up ...

In two weeks we meet Peru for the right to almost certainly face the Czech Republic in the final. This is a lot like the matchups with Germany the last few years; the Herreras are good clay specialists but not nearly so dangerous on other surfaces. It'll be another hardcourt tie, which means we will once again be prohibitively favored.
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