MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — Feliciano Lopez defeated Juan Martin del Potro in four sets Friday, allowing Spain to even its Davis Cup final against Argentina at 1-1.
Lopez won 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Argentina’s David Nalbandian beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in the opening match of the best-of-five championship.
Spain was playing without top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who has an injured knee. Lopez’s win against Argentina’s best-ranked player was crucial in keeping the Spaniards’ hopes alive of winning their third title.
In doubles Saturday, Lopez will pair with Fernando Verdasco against Jose Acasuso and Agustin Calleri. In Sunday’s reverse singles, del Potro plays Ferrer and Nalbandian faces Lopez.
Spain is looking to add to its home victories in 2000 and 2004. Argentina, playing in its first final at home, has never won the title and was runner-up in 1981 and 2006.
This is the third meeting between Argentina and Spain, with Spain winning the previous two on clay in 1926 and 2003. The United States won last year’s final by beating Russia.
Del Potro was trying to keep up with Lopez’s solid play until he injured his right thigh in the sixth game of the fourth set while trying to reach a crosscourt baseline shot. He returned after being attended by doctors, but he lost his serve and Lopez cruised to victory. The Spaniard was leading 3-2, 15-0 when del Potro was injured.
This was Del Potro’s second consecutive loss to Lopez this year. It also was Lopez’s second straight win in Davis Cup singles after four losses in a row. The Spaniard had lost all four Davis Cup singles matches on hard court.
Del Potro was trying to win his fourth consecutive Davis Cup match. The 20-year-old was coming off two straight-set victories in the semifinals against Russia.
Before a boisterous crowd of about 10,000 fans in this coastal city, Del Potro got off to a good start by breaking Lopez in the fifth game. He captured the set 6-4 after an ace in the final game.
The match remained even in the second set, with neither playing breaking. Lopez jumped to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker and won 7-2. There were no breaks in the third either, and Lopez came out on top again by winning five straight points, clinching the set with an ace that hushed the Argentine crowed.
Lopez broke in the fourth game of the fourth set to go up 3-1, but del Potro came right back with a break of his own despite trailing 0-30 in the following game. After del Potro’s injury, Lopez broke the Argentine again and was on his way.
Earlier, the 11th-ranked Nalbandian dominated from the beginning and was broken only twice. He improved his career record against the 12th-ranked Ferrer to 4-6.
“I couldn’t have played it any better,” he said after winning in just under two hours. “It was good to win it fast.”
In his last four ATP events, Nalbandian won one title and reached two more finals. He has won nine of his last 11 singles matches. Ferrer had won his two Davis Cup singles this year.
The Argentine broke in the third and seventh games to take the first set 6-3. Nalbandian kept the pace in the second, breaking Ferrer three times, including in the final game after Ferrer missed wide on a crosscourt forehand. In the final set, the Argentine broke in the fourth game and had three aces in the last game to
The Spaniards finished second three times in the Davis Cup — 1965, 1967 and 2003. All losses came against host Australia.
Argentina finished second to the United States in 1981 and to Russia in 2006. The Argentines are unbeaten in 13 home series since 1998, when it lost to Slovakia. The Argentines chose the blue indoor hard-court for the final, trying to curtail the Spaniards’ advantage on clay.
Nadal withdrew this month after failing to recover from his injury, and captain Sanchez Vicario replaced him by 56th-ranked Marcel Granollers. The Davis Cup final has not featured a No. 1 player since Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in 2001.
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