Serbia in historic first David Cup win

A fantastic performance by Serbia's tennis stars saw the Balkan giants defeat mighty France by 3:2 for the country's first Davis Cup victory in Belgrade. The win brings Serbia up to second place in the ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking, behind Spain and ahead of the Czech Republic.

Serbia: Janko Tipsarevic; Novak Djokovic; Nenad Zimonjic; Viktor Troiki;

France: Gael Monfils; Gilles Simon; Arnaud Clément; Michael Llodra  

Serbia's historic win over France this weekend could not have been more dramatic. Janko Tipsarevic lost the first singles match to Gael Monfils in three straight sets (1-6, 6-7, 0-6) before Novak Djokovic squared the tournament at 1-1, beating Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.

In the third round, the doubles, Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troiki took a two-set lead against

Arnaud Clément and Michael Llodra (6-3, 7-6) then lost the last three sets 4-6, 5-7, 4-6, giving France a 2-1 advantage after day 1.

On day two, France needed to win just one of the two singles matches to win its tenth Davis Cup (winners 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1991, 1996, 2001). However, Novak Djokovic beat Gael Monfils easily (6-2, 6-2, 6-4) and in the final match, Viktor Troicki held his nerve and gave Michael Llodra no chance: 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Serbia becomes the thirteenth nation to win the Davis Cup, which began as a competition between the USA and the British isles in 1900.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru