Davis Cup draw suits SA

2008-07-16 21:44

Johannesburg - The South African Davis Cup team on Wednesday gained what they believed was a points advantage over Denmark for the Euro-Africa Group 2 tie which gets underway at Emperors Palace on Friday.

Both South African singles players gained the draw they wanted, with number one Kevin Anderson opening the tie against Danish number two Martin Pedersen at 10:00 and number two local player Rik de Voest following up against top visitor Frederik Nielsen immediately afterwards.

"I'm certainly pleased to start the proceedings at a pre-ordained time instead of hanging around for the first game to finish," said the 22-year-old Anderson, who will be playing his first game in South Africa since he hit the tennis headlines earlier in the year with a victory over the world's third-ranked Novak Djokovic that helped catapult him from a world 550th ranking to 95th in a matter of six months.

Anderson said he was also pleased to be back on his favourite hard-court surface after a somewhat disappointing spell in Europe that included playing on the clay courts of the French Open and Wimbledon's grasscourts.

De Voest, in contrast, said he felt a good deal more comfortable not having to start off in an early-morning game in what could be cold, unpleasant conditions - "because I'm generally not an early riser in any case."

The Danes, in contrast, both felt it made "little difference" whether they played first or second and indicated that they had found "everything" in South Africa to their liking thus far.

Friday's singles will be followed by the doubles at 13:30 on Saturday in which the South African pair of Jeff Coetzee and Izak van der Merwe play Denmark's Neilsen and Rasmus Norby, with the reverse singles following from 10am on Sunday.

South Africa and Denmark stand at 2-2 in previous Davis Cup ties, with the winner playing Algeria or Monaco for promotion to Euro-Africa Group 1 next year.

- SAPA