An Indepth look at Serbia’s 2-0 lead over Spain after day one of the Davis Cup, written by Giovanni Vianello
Novak Djokovic v Albert Ramos-Viñolas
The first rubber of the Serbia vs. Spain Davis Cup quarter-final tie, which is played on the fast indoor surface of Belgrad, has seen a better performing Novak Djokovic prevailing over a battling but too less talented Albert Ramos-Viñolas. In the first set the Serbian has a slow start, he isn’t able to put pressure on his opponent with his baseline game and he isn’t able to return as well as he used to. Nevertheless, Albert Ramos-Viñolas isn’t able to take advantage of the sluggish start of Djokovic and gets broken once, letting the Serbian win the first set 6-3.
In the second set Djokovic pushes on the gas pedal, but Ramos-Viñolas also plays better. The result is the most spectacular set of the match, and it ends inevitably into Djokovic’s favour, since the Serbian can outplay the Spaniard in terms of skill. The set sees Djokovic breaking once and winning the set 6-4.
The third set sees an early break by Djokovic, who, although, in the sixth game gives his opponent a break-point, which is saved by the Serbian. In the end, after securing a 4-2 lead, the Serbian throttles again and seals another break in his advantage, ending the match by winning 6-3 6-4 6-2.
The match, all in all, has gone as it could’ve been foreseen, Djokovic has been quite focused and therefore Ramos-Viñolas couldn’t endure much.
Viktor Troicki v Pablo Carreño Busta
In the second match of the gameday in Belgrad, Viktor Troicki, highly supported by the home crowd, wins three sets to love in a match which lacked spectacular moments against Pablo Carreno Busta.
The Serbian has won mainly thanks to his better mental attitude, which allowed him to handle better the harder moments in his match. The encounter, generally speaking, was quite awful, slow baseline rallies have been prevailing, not many pace variations or accelerations have been seen. The most offensive player has been the Serbian, who, with some drop-shots and coming sometimes to the net, has given a little of taste to an otherwise boring match.
In the first set in the first seven games nothing relevant happens, then Troicki gets a break of advantage and eventually secures the set 6-3.
In the second set Troicki goes up 4-3 with the serve in his advantage, but at this point hugely risks to get counter-broken, since he goes down 0-40 on his own serve; the Serbian, though, clinches five points in a row and then, after having had two set points in the ninth game of the set on the Spaniard’s serve, wins the set 6-4.
Troicki is now on fire and breaks once more Pablo Carreno Busta in the first game of the third set; the Serbian holds all his following serves and breaks Carreno Busta again in the ninth game, concluding the match 6-3 6-4 6-3.
Serbia is now leading 2-0 in the tie and therefore is just one point away from the semifinals of the Davis Cup.
