Spain struggles in the Davis Cup

In the Fetisov Arena, AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' resounded. A way of telling Spain that conquering Vladivostok was not going to be so easy. The doubles team of the five-time champion was not able to close the tie that leads to the playoff for promotion to the World Group (September 18-20). Marc López and David Marrero fell to Kostantin Kravchuk and Evgeny Donskoy by 4-7, 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-5, and 6-4 in 4:05 hours. Tomorrow, Sunday (TDP, 06:00), Tommy Robredo should be the one to finish the job against Karen Khachanov (although it is very possible that he will be replaced by Kravchuk or Donskoy) if he doesn't want to leave Pablo Andújar on the edge of a fifth match against the budding genius Andrey Rublev.

An accessible Russian duo

The Russian pair seemed, at first, achievable. Donskoy (178th in singles) and Kravchuk (163rd) had not played together for five years, something they had only done three times and never in the Davis Cup. On the other side, two doubles masters, López (13th in the specialty) and Marrero (23rd), without their usual partners, as they play on the circuit with Marcel Granollers and Pablo Cuevas or Fernando Verdasco. However, this year they joined forces in Estoril, where they made the final, and have two titles as a pair, Munich and Estoril 2010. However, as happened to them in September in Sao Paulo, they were unable to open their account of victories in the Davis Cup.

A closely fought doubles match

The doubles match, on a fast court, is always on the edge. Kravchuk made his power on serve count -the Russians hit 20 aces- with shots at over 200 km/h and relied on Donskoy, solid in his returns. Marrero, from Gran Canaria, who did not lose his service throughout the match, led the Spanish duo. After winning the first set, in the second set López and Marrero took a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker, but they lost it and gave breathing room to the Russians. They won the third set with a break in the final game (7-5), but in the fourth and fifth sets Marc López struggled, his legs weakened, and his arm lost power, allowing the Russians to break him in three games with his serve. The cold crowd of Vladivostok grew stronger, Kravhuk excelled in the lead role, and kept the tie alive until Sunday.

After so many obstacles since September, after so much noise, Conchita Martínez's debut as captain couldn't sound so calm. The highway to hell will reverberate through the ears of the Spaniards once again in the Fetisov Arena tomorrow. It is up to Robredo and Andújar to silence the thunder.