09. 07. 2011. ·
Photo: Getty Images
Newly crowned Wimbledon Champion and world no.1 Novak Djokovic teamed up with Nenad Zimonjic to take on Swedish doubles specialists Simon Aspelin and 2011 Wimbledon finalist Robert Lindstedt in today’s doubles rubber.
The Serbian boys lost in straight sets 4-6, 6-7(5), 5-7 in 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Novak was hard on himself in his post-match analysis but praised his Swedish opponents: “I expected myself to adjust a little bit better in the rhythm of the return – one of my main weapons wasn’t working well as I was missing a lot of returns but that’s because of their serves as well, which were great, and they were playing really well at the net.”
The 24-year-old Belgrade native still felt positive that his side has what it takes to win their quarterfinal: “We are coming into the third day 2-1 up which is the most important thing and tomorrow we will try to end this tie.”
Zimonjic was the highest ranked doubles player on the court at no.6 and has paired up with Novak for the fourth time. Their win-loss Davis Cup record now is 2-2.
Serbia made the perfect start to their quarterfinal campaign yesterday when Viktor Troicki overcame Michael Ryderstedt 6-3, 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-5 in the opening rubber. Tipsarevic then went through against Davis Cup debutant Ervin Eleskovic, who badly injured his knee when trailing 6-2, 1-0. Tipsarevic was replacing Djokovic who pulled out with a sore knee.
Serbia need just one more point to go through to their second consecutive Davis Cup final four.
On Sunday at 13:00 CET Tipsarevic faces Ryderstedt. The second match was supposed to be Troicki vs Eleskovic, but the Swede may be sidelined for several months.
Should Serbia win the third point tomorrow, they will face Argentina in the Davis Cup semi-final tie at home from 16-18 September.
